Maurizio Sarri has backed Callum Hudson-Odoi to become a European great despite conceding it is "not easy" to hand the youngster a regular spot in the Chelsea first team.
Sarri has lost Pedro and Ruben Loftus-Cheek to injury and his wide options could shrink further if Hudson-Odoi becomes the latest young English star to head to Germany, with Bayern Munich heavily linked with a £20million January move.
Hudson-Odoi has shone in the Chelsea youth teams for several years and won the Under-17 World Cup with England in 2017. However the winger has found first team opportunities hard to come by under Sarri, appearing on only six occasions and completing just 42 minutes in the Premier League.
The 18-year-old would not be the first promising English youngster to find the door to the first-team barred at Stamford Bridge but Sarri insists he has faith in his academy.
The assessment of Hudson-Odoi from the former Napoli coach was particularly glowing. “I think that he’s a very good player. The potential is to become a great player.
"Now he has to improve. With the ball he is a very good player. He has to improve, I think, with movement without the ball. As a winger he has to improve in the defensive ways.
“But he has the potential to become a very, very important player not only for English football but for European football.
“It’s not easy at this level to take young players from the academy and they’re ready to play. Not only here but everywhere in Europe.
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"Sometimes there are one, two players in Barcelona from the academy, sometimes one, two in Real Madrid, zero in Juventus, zero in Paris Saint-Germain. It’s not easy.
"We are lucky. We have [Ethan] Ampadu, [Andreas] Christensen, Hudson-Odoi. We have three or four players from the Academy. It’s really very good.
“In Europe there are few players of 18 with eight matches at this level. Hudson-Odoi this season played six, seven official matches. He is not lucky, he is good.”
