Maurizio Sarri condemns Bayern’s approach to Callum Hudson-Odoi

We all already know about the Callum Hudson-Odoi saga, and rumor has it that the player is more than willing to go to Bayern Munich. Maybe the best proof of that is that Chelsea are doing everything in their power to prevent the transfer, first by constantly raising the transfer fee for the player and now searching for any sort of flaw in Bayern’s approach.

As Sky Sports now informs us, this afternoon Chelsea’s manager Maurizio Sarri condemned Bayern as ‘‘unprofessional’’ and called them out for supposedly disrespecting Chelsea. He told the press,

I think that it’s not professional because they are talking about a player under contract at Chelsea. They didn’t respect our club, I think. I don’t know what to say, I do not know the situation.

What angers Sarri in particular is Brazzo’s comments over Hudson-Odoi. Hasan Salihamidzic had candidly told the press,

He’s a very interesting player who we really want to sign. He has qualities that fit our playing style. He’s strong on the dribble, tricky, has a good nose for goal, and is a young player who has a lot of potential to develop. Hudson-Odoi is a player who’ll fit us very well

But everything here reeks of hypocrisy. Chelsea basically want to report Bayern for the same thing Sarri’s own assistant coach Gianfranco Zola did just last week — regarding a different Callum. Zola described Chelsea’s interest in Callum Wilson in virtually the same language as Salihamidzic:

He’s strong, fast, and he sees the goal. I like because he’s quick, but also strong in the air, which is a very important quality. But I don’t want to go too much into it. He’s doing very well. I’m pleased for him. He has a lot of qualities that can take him a long way.

But et tu arguments like this are beside the point. Neither Salihamidzic nor Zola did anything wrong. Why Sarri thinks Bayern crossed a line is baffling.

In other respects, Chelsea are something like an authority on tampering in recent years. Their pursuit of Ashley Cole and Gael Kakuta resulted in 18-month transfer ban way back when. And the Blues are also facing the prospect a two-year transfer ban for illegal youth-team signings. The more you know...

While Chelsea are doing everything they can to make Hudson-Odoi stay, even if that includes reporting Bayern to FIFA, they should also consider reporting English international Jadon Sancho for talking to his frend Callum about Bundesliga and giving him few heads-ups. Or maybe sanction Antonio Rüdiger, their own player, when he admitted that Callum Hudson-Odoi asked him about a Bayern Munich move. You know, just to be thorough about it.