Maurizio Sarri says Callum Hudson-Odoi must wait – Chelsea wins come first

Maurizio Sarri says his priority at Chelsea is to get results rather than manage the development of academy players such as Callum Hudson-Odoi. The 18-year-old winger has made six appearances under Sarri this season – four of them in the Europa League – but he is frustrated as he believes he deserves greater opportunity.

Hudson-Odoi, who has 18 months to run on his contract, is the subject of a £20m offer from Bayern Munich, which Chelsea are resisting, and he is of interest to other elite European clubs, including Real Madrid.

Hudson-Odoi has seen a clutch of young English players make the move to Germany and he would be open to following suit. Chelsea, meanwhile, are in talks with Borussia Dortmund over the attacking midfielder Christian Pulisic, with a view to a summer transfer and this would impact on Hudson-Odoi’s prospects.

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Sarri sounded like many of his predecessors at Chelsea when he said he understood the fans’ desire to see talented youngsters such as Hudson-Odoi progress. Yet at the same time he is conflicted because winning matches is paramount.

Hudson-Odoi came off at Watford on Boxing Day with a minor hamstring injury, then missed Sunday’s win at Crystal Palace and now faces a fitness test before Wednesday night’s home game against Southampton.

Sarri was asked whether his young players were too impatient. “Also the fans sometimes, also the club sometimes,” he replied. “And so I am in the middle. I have to win [matches]. I can understand very well that a fan loves young players from the academy but in the long run I have to win matches and the fans want me to win matches – also the club, I think.

“It’s not easy at this level to take the young players from the academy – not only here, everywhere in Europe. Sometimes there are one, two young players at Barcelona and Real Madrid; there are zero at Juventus and Paris St-Germain. We are lucky because we have [Ethan] Ampadu, [Andreas] Christensen and Odoi.

“In Europe there are few 18-year-old players with eight matches at this level. Odoi has played six or seven matches this season, so I think that he has to be lucky – not lucky, he is good. He has the potential to be a great player and now he has to improve. With the ball, he is a very good player. He has to improve in movements without the ball. He has to improve in the defensive phase.”

Sarri is expected to be without Olivier Giroud against Southampton after the striker injured an ankle at Palace but the manager said he would not recall Michy Batshuayi or Tammy Abraham in January from loans at Valencia and Aston Villa.