Callum Hudson-Odoi’s wait for a first Premier League start is set to continue with Maurizio Sarri having opted against watching the youngster’s full England debut in its entirety and set to lean on more experienced campaigners for Chelsea’s trip to Cardiff City on Sunday.

The winger had been a surprise call-up to Gareth Southgate’s senior squad from the under-21s and became his country’s youngest debutant in a competitive match, against the Czech Republic, before starting in Montenegro. After a slow start, Hudson-Odoi excelled in Podgorica as the visitors won 5-1.

Yet Sarri, with 14 players away on international duty this month, watched only snippets of that performance as he attempted to keep track on various members of his squad, and suggested the 18-year-old – who boasts only 119 minutes of top-flight football, and no starts, this term, and 110 minutes for England – remains behind Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro in the Chelsea pecking order.

Asked if he had watched Hudson-Odoi’s display on Monday, Sarri said: “No, no. No, only 20 minutes because I had 14 players in the national teams, and I had no time to watch 20 matches. Callum didn’t start very well in the first 20 minutes on the right. He did very well on the left, immediately. But I know him very well, and I know he prefers to play on the left.

“I don’t know [if he will start at Cardiff]. Last season Callum was only 17 and played three or four matches. This season he is really very young – only 18 – but, at the moment, he has played for … I don’t remember exactly, but 19 or 20 matches. So I think the evolution is the right evolution. Probably, he will play 30-35 matches next season. And so I think that, with Callum, we are on the right path. We have to play eight matches in 28 days, and so I am sure that Callum will start in two or three matches.

“But Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup … for me, it’s the same … for me, there’s no difference. I’m really very confident in him. He started a lot of matches. Probably not in the Premier League, but that’s by chance. It’s not a problem for me to put him in the starting XI in a Premier League match. He’s ready. But of course I can play with only two wingers. In the squad we have Hazard, Willian, Pedro, so it’s not really very easy to start in every match here. Probably, in the near future, he will start in 75-80% of matches.”

Hudson-Odoi – like all three senior wingers at the club – is out of contract in 2020 and, having grown frustrated at a perceived lack of opportunities, handed in a transfer request in January in a bid to force through a move to Bayern Munich. The club have yet to instigate new talks with the youngster over an improved contract offer, with his future effectively still up in the air.

Despite that uncertainty, Sarri remains convinced that the player will remain in south-west London to continue his development next season. “I think so, I think so,” he added. “I’m not able to say if he’s going to sign a new contract or not, but I think he will stay here with us in every case. He is doing very well, but he needs to improve more because the potential is really very high. I don’t want him to stop improving because he can become one of the most important players in Europe. But he needs to improve more. So the risk is to stop improving.”

[Guardian UK]