Callum Hudson-Odoi has been backed to prove Chelsea wrong after scoring a beauty against his former club on Saturday.
The Nottingham Forest winger ended his 16-year association with Chelsea last summer, having spent the 2022-23 campaign on loan at German side Bayer Leverkusen. Once tipped to be the next big thing at Stamford Bridge back during Maurizio Sarri's tenure, Hudson-Odoi's Blues career fizzled out but he's now rediscovered his form at the City Ground.
His curling strike against Chelsea looked to have secured mathematical safety for Forest before late goals from Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson condemned Hudson-Odoi and co to a painful 3-2 defeat. Forest are still unlikely to be relegated thanks to being three points and 12 goals better off than 18th-placed Luton going into the final game of the season next Sunday.
Hudson-Odoi, 23, has been a revelation on Forest's left flank in recent weeks, scoring four goals in his last seven games. When the ex-England international struck against the Blues, the home crowd ironically chanted: "Chelsea reject!"
Team-mate Ola Aina, who played alongside Hudson-Odoi as they came through the Blues' youth academy together, expects big thing of his pal in the near future. "Everyone knows he's a fantastic player with bags of talent and he is full of confidence right now," Aina said post-match.
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"When he's on it he is a hard player to play against. We're just so happy he's been in that kind of form for us towards the end of the season."
Forest paid just £5million for the 23-year-old, a fee which Aina is in awe of. "He is a bargain," the wing-back added. "For him it's just about getting consistent game time and consistency of performances - putting a run of good games together back-to-back.
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Callum Hudson-Odoi has rediscovered his form at Nottingham Forest (Ritchie Sumpter/Nottingham Forest FC via Getty Images)"Getting a regular run of games was all he really needed. Any player needs that and fortunately for Callum he's getting that here. He's repaying himself the club and the manager's trust in him.
"He's only going to get better. It's hard to believe he's still only 23 because he seems to have been around for so long. If he is going to continue to get better then I'm excited to see what he's capable of."
In February, Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said: "He has been playing and that’s a big thing for a player. When you have the chance to play, you improve. He's combining well with his team-mates but we still expect a lot of good things because the talent is there."
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