COMMENT: The opportunities will be endless. The offers too. But for Callum Hudson-Odoi, you do hope the penny has dropped after these past six months in Germany...
With a year to run on his contract, Chelsea will sell. After a year away at Bayer Leverkusen. After the past six months left sitting on bench. Hudson-Odoi has given the new management at Chelsea every excuse to shift him on.
A mistake? For this column, we say 'yes'. On potential. For his youth. At 22, Hudson-Odoi remains a superior talent compared to Mykhaylo Mudryk and Noni Madueke. At least that's on paper. As we say, the reality is Hudson-Odoi has made it too easy for Chelsea to push him out. The Bayer loan, under coach Xabi Alonso, didn't go to plan, particularly after Christmas. A record of 21 appearances for a goal and an assist not the stuff of a player Bayern Munich tried everything to sign - on multiple occasions - as a teen.
Hudson-Odoi's minders will point to the season-ending back strain as an excuse for the limp stats. But that's all it is: an excuse. Bayer were expecting much more from the Chelsea player. We all were. But over the course of his loan, Hudson-Odoi consistently failed to get out of third gear.
Inside Bayer, the assessment is that it's all come too easy. The talent. The reputation. It allowed the winger to move smoothly through age group football. And at senior level, as a teen, his selection was always based on what he could be, not what he could actually deliver.
But again, this is no knock on Hudson-Odoi's ability. Bayer's coaching staff knew what they had. They saw it on the training pitches. They saw it - fleetingly - in games. Problem was, they needed more from Callum. But he couldn't meet the demand.
"He has to be willing to get into dangerous areas and actually become dangerous himself in front of goal," said Simon Rolfes, Bayer's sporting director, to Kicker in May. "He has to show a lot more presence. He can do much more. He has the technical qualities for this."
Rolfes was Hudson-Odoi's biggest champion at Bayer. It was Rolfes who brought him in last summer. As it was the sports chief who made sure Chelsea did not recall the player in January amid talk of then manager Graham Potter wanting to take a closer look.
So when he spoke, you'd hope Hudson-Odoi and his advisers paid attention. Rolfes again: "Callum is a friendly person, but he has to extend his elbows more on the pitch."
Just as we've said in past columns, Rolfes remains convinced of Hudson-Odoi's talent. His potential. But he needs to show fight, grinta, if he is to fulfil his promise.
But he'll have to do that away from Stamford Bridge. Which could be the best thing for him. In terms of status, he faces a step down. Nottingham Forest. Fulham. Crystal Palace. They've all been mentioned as potential destinations. It's hardly talk of Bayern and the Allianza Arena. But for what he needs right now, Hudson-Odoi shouldn't turn his nose up at any of these options.
At Palace, we've seen Roy Hodgson work his magic with Ebe Eze. In just a few short months, Hodgson transformed the momentum of Eze's career to the point of a first England call. At Forest, under Steve Cooper, Hudson-Odoi can take comfort from the progress of Morgan Gibbs-White. Finding himself drifting at Molineux, under Cooper's guidance, Gibbs-White was outstanding in a battling Forest team. It was a season of career best form, which had him discussed openly by England coach Gareth Southgate before this month's internationals.
Of course, England isn't always the target. And we know Hudson-Odoi is in contact with the Ghanaian FA. But it's about form. Progress. What Eze and Gibbs-White have shown is that Palace and Forest - like Marco Silva's Fulham - are no backwater. Not when you're 22. Not when you have the ability of Hudson-Odoi. There's no reason why a move to either club cannot be of career benefit. A step back for two steps forward? If there ever was such a scenario, this is surely it.
They'll be writing him off. They already are. But 22 is no age. Everything he had at 18, 19 is still there. It's now about upstairs. Getting that right. When it comes to career growing pains, Hudson-Odoi isn't Robinson Crusoe. Just ask Jadon Sancho at Manchester United. Or Fabio Carvalho at Liverpool. The slump. The doubts. They're inevitable. Particularly for players of Hudson-Odoi's type. Again, he need only look to the career arc of Gibbs-White for inspiration.
On paper. On potential. You can argue Chelsea are making a major mistake with this sale decision. But the game isn't played on reputation. You just hope after this wake-up call at Bayer, the penny has dropped for Callum Hudson-Odoi.
