Is Hudson-Odoi on the verge of switching to play for Ghana?
Callum Hudson-Odoi is according to a report by a leading English news portal near a switch to play for the Ghana national team after the continuous snub from the Three Lions by Gareth Southgate.
Hudson-Odoi who made his debut for the Three Lions in March 2019 against the Czech Republic in a Euro 2020 qualifier and became the youngest to debut for England at senior level at 18 years 135 days, besting David Duncans 1955 feat by 40 days has to date only made 3 appearances for England at senior level.
He has seen his peers, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka feature regularly under Gareth Southgate for the Three Lions yet he is deemed suitable for the U-21 side. That feeling of perceived neglect and under-appreciation of his talent is what is supposedly playing into his mind to switch allegiance to the Black Stars who have shown keen interest in his talent.
The Chelsea man was in Ghana during the summer break where he met with Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the seat of government. That meeting sparked conversation around his international football career with many believing that meeting could highly influence his decision.
Hudson-Odoi has watched on as Jack Grealish and Phil Foden along with Saka and Sancho get regular call-ups to the English senior team. He rejected an invitation to the U-21 team for European Championship qualifiers against Romania and Kosovo during the September international window sparking a reaction from Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.
“It’s his decision and nothing to do with my opinion or the club’s,” Tuchel said. “If I speculate a little bit I think it’s about disappointment that he is not nominated for the first team, but at the same time maybe he did not have enough minutes to be nominated for the first team. I could see the upgrade in having some minutes and being in a leading role for the Under 21s, but he decided differently so he will deal with the consequences.”
The winger has not closed the doors on both sides as he refused to commit to either side when he was asked about it.
“I think obviously when you’re young, you have the opportunity to play for England throughout all the years, from under 15 to under 16 all the way up. When they obviously gave me the opportunity to come I was in the country already. It’s something that I already had in my mind, set on already playing for England.”
“So it was the thing obviously choosing Ghana or England, and at the end of the day, I said I always had the right people around me who always advise me – what’s right, what’s wrong. England came and I said yeah, let me go and play for my country. But I said Ghana is my home as well, so we’ll see, we’ll see.”
The Ghana Football Association boss, Kurt Okraku also has his say concerning the talented youngster who has already achieved so much with Chelsea and the England youth sides.
He said, “I spoke with Callum before he got to Ghana, and we promised to speak again when we meet in Ghana, we have met, we’ve had discussions that centred beyond playing for Ghana, and he has a crazy ambition of helping kids in Ghana and this is what excites me the most.
“We are looking forward to working with Odoi and his family and many other players who are interested in representing their country. We have a lot of them like that, we are talking to the technical team and the political authorities in getting them to play for Ghana,” Kurt Okraku stated.
Under Fifa rules, Callum Hudson-Odoi is eligible to represent Ghana because he has yet to represent England at any major tournament finals and all his three consecutive appearances for the Three Lions came before he will turn 21 in November 2021. He will not be eligible to play for the Black Stars in the October qualifiers even if he made the switch now but having to wait till November and also have the chance of playing in the World Cup in Qatar 2022 will be something worth the wait for the youngster.
By: Clifford Adumbire | myactiveonline.com
