THE England manager. Tick.
His new team-mates in the national side. Tick.
The Chelsea dressing room. Tick.
And the Blues fans. Tick.
Callum Hudson-Odoi, it seems, only has one man left to prove he should start for Chelsea.
Sadly for the teenage prodigy, though, that man is Maurizio Sarri.
That the winger should make his first competitive England start before he has begun a Premier League game for his club will surely become a quiz question and answer in future years.
It is certainly unprecedented.
But if Chelsea really want to keep the youngster on their books, rather than see him forcing through a move, either Sarri must bend. Or Sarri must go.
But if Chelsea really want to keep the youngster on their books, rather than see him forcing through a move, either Sarri must bend. Or Sarri must go.
Hudson-Odoi was not a world-beater in Podgorica.
Nor should he be expected to be one.
But he did more than enough to guarantee his first two England caps should be the start of a long career for the Three Lions at senior level.
Whether his next caps will be won as a Chelsea player, though, is a different story.
It is likely that, if everybody else is fit, Hudson-Odoi will not be involved in the Nations League Finals in Portugal in June.
Instead, he will be blooded at under-21 level, playing for Aidy Boothroyd’s side as they bid to win the European crown.
By the September international break, though, when England do return to Euro 2020 qualification duty – with much of the heavy lifting already completed with those romps over the Czech Republic and Montenegro, Hudson-Odoi will want clarity.
TRANSFER INTEREST INTENSIFIES
Chelsea, facing that two-window transfer ban, which will be in place this summer unless there is an unexpectedly successful appeal to Fifa or an unlikely stay of suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, want Hudson-Odoi to stay at the club.
There is a recognition and realisation at the club, however, that the teenager is minded to leave.
Events since Bayern Munich’s £35m approach in the January transfer window have only intensified that position.
Hudson-Odoi, coming into the final year of his current contract, feels frustrated and let down by Sarri.
He believed he would be rewarded, properly, for his efforts in training.
That means games, especially starts.
And not just in the domestic cups and Europa League. He wants to play when it matters, every weekend.
Instead, week after week, he has filled the bench, watching and listening as the Chelsea fans regularly voice their own angst at Willian and Pedro, waiting for a few minutes of action at the end.
It is not that the Brazilian and Spaniard are bad players. Far from it.
But they are OLD players. The wrong side of 30.
Hudson-Odoi represents, if he stays, the next decade at Stamford Bridge.
SARRI'S REPUTATION ON THE LINE
But if Sarri does not bend to the popular will over the next two months, does not give Hudson-Odoi what he craves and believes should be his, the chances of him being part of that future will lessen with each game that kicks off with him sat beside the Italian.
Sarri does not want to be bounced into selecting players he does not believe are ready. That is only right and proper.
Yet if his intransigence costs Chelsea the services of a player that pretty much every major club in England and Europe would like to have in their ranks, his reputation will tank even further.
The issue for Sarri is a simple one, but he has made it more complicated.
Rather than giving a young talent the chance he feels he deserves, it looks like it has become a point of principle.
Now, though, he will have to buckle. Or see Hudson-Odoi fly the coop completely.
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