Former England striker Michael Owen is baffled by the idea that Callum Hudson-Odoi would be guaranteed more playing time by moving from Chelsea to Bayern Munich.
Hudson-Odoi is out of contract in June 2020 and has been linked with a £35million move to Bayern Munich before Thursday’s transfer deadline.
The 18-year-old forward has made 11 appearances for Chelsea this season and scored in the Europa League and FA Cup, but has yet to start a Premier League game.
“The FA have made one or two changes to make it better but we are still seeing players going abroad to further their careers and get more game time.
“I commend that but the strange one in this situation is how anybody thinks that a player can leave Chelsea and go to a team like Bayern Munich and then be guaranteed to play even more.
“It’s Bayern Munich for crying out loud. It’s not a weak team on the continent. We’re talking Bayern Munich.
“We are talking another level up and one of the top five clubs in the world. Have a look at Bayern’s team. It’s not bad and it’s not going to be easy to penetrate into that.
“I admire anybody that is doing it for the right reasons, but he is only 18 and is integrating into the first team. I don’t think Chelsea are doing a bad job in blooding a talented youngster.”
As the transfer window gets set to close, Owen does not expect his former side Liverpool or title rivals Manchester City to be active in the market, while Tuesday’s victory over City will have eased the pressure on Newcastle owner Mike Ashley to “appease” the fans.
“The managers in and around the relegation zone are the ones that are normally very active,” the 39-year-old said.
“It’s a little bit harder at the top because they are trying to improve their teams and it’s virtually impossible to do – you’re looking for a needle in a haystack to improve Liverpool or Man City.
“There’s only a handful of players worldwide that would be of any interest now. Unless you are buying a youngster for the future, there’s only a handful of players that are anywhere near the levels of (Mo) Salah, (Sadio) Mane and (Roberto) Firmino.
“I’d be astounded if Liverpool bought anyone to go straight into their first team.
“If Jose Mourinho was still at Man Utd I’d say there could be something because he was forever trying to get better performances. I was going to say better players but I don’t think that was quite possible.
“It was quite evident to me and most people that he had the players there, he just wasn’t getting the best out of them.
“I think they still need a top-class centre half but whether they’re going to find one now I think is doubtful so they might wait until the summer.”
:: Michael Owen is no stranger to switching clubs, however he was joined by former England team-mate Joe Cole as the pair announced one final transfer in a tongue-in-cheek film for smartphone brand Huawei, citing ‘intelligent performance’ and a ‘fantastic kit’ as reasons for the move. The film can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRIVf4hWFR0&feature=youtu.be.
