Nottingham Forest have emerged as a frontrunner to sign Chelsea forward Callum Hudson-Odoi this summer, according to fresh reports.

Is Callum Hudson-Odoi leaving Chelsea?

The Premier League’s left-sided winger worked his way up through the youth ranks to graduate from the academy at Stamford Bridge and become a regular feature of the first-team, where he’s so far made 126 senior appearances, but his future is currently extremely uncertain.

Last season, England’s former international was sent out on a season-long loan to Bayer Leverkusen to receive more game time, but that spell didn’t go as well as hoped as he only made seven starts all term which will have been disappointing for both the player and his parent club.

The Blues product, however, will be out of contract at the end of the next campaign so this window will be Mauricio Pochettino’s final opportunity to cash in should he not want to lose him for free, and should he depart, he’s already got a heavily invested suitor at The City Ground.

The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg recently reported that the Reds, Fulham and AC Milan have all registered an interest in the 22-year-old who is ready to embark on a new challenge, but if the following update is to be believed, it’s the former who have leapfrogged their competitors into pole position.

Are Nottingham Forest signing Hudson-Odoi?

According to Football Transfers, Nottingham Forest are the “among the favourites” to sign Hudson-Odoi should he secure a move away from Chelsea. The SW6 outfit “want to sell” the attacker and Steve Cooper is a “huge fan” of his target having managed him at the England’s U17s World Cup earlier in his career. The Blues are “looking” to demand £20m, though if a deal is to be agreed, it likely won’t be until “later” in the window.

 

Should Marinakis make an offer for Hudson-Odoi?

Nottingham Forest’s owner Evangelos Marinakis will know that Cooper holding an existing connection to Hudson-Odoi means he knows a lot about what he’s capable of, and even though he only scored one goal and provided the same number of assists last season at Leverkusen, he still looked promising and could thrive in the next chapter of his career in the Midlands.

Chelsea’s forward was averaging 3.86 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes over in Germany which was the third-highest total throughout his squad, as per FBRef, not to mention that he had strong link-up play with his teammates, recording an 86.9% pass success rate, higher than any of the regular current starters in NG2.

The Wandsworth-born ace, who has the versatility to operate in seven different positions across the pitch, also knows what it takes to compete and be successful having won five senior trophies with his boyhood club, including the Champions and Europa League, so could bring a much-needed winning mentality to the side.

Last but not least, Hudson-Odoi has been dubbed a “monster of a talent” by journalist Nizaar Kinsella and it’s obvious that he has bags of potential to be unleashed, and this is exactly what could happen should he sign on the dotted line to become a new recruit under Cooper.