There was competition for CHO. I think it was his wages that deterred us (Fulham). Also he had just had a loan in germany where reports say he wasn't great. I was not keen on him for us.
He was pretty hopeless for Leverkusen in that loan, watched him on a few occasions. I’m really not too surprised there was only a few clubs interested. Still think Chelsea undersold, was probably worth about 10m I reckon. But I think most had come to the conclusion he wasn’t going to make it back to a high enough level. Fair play to him, for getting back there.
He’s never the most exciting name in the squad but it’s good to see him do well, I really hope he smashes it in Spain. His treatment from Chelsea was disgraceful.
Conor Gallagher's first LALIGA goal 🏴The Englishman with a good finish to give Atleti the lead against Valencia 🔴⚪ pic.twitter.com/V0cqQ6P0Uv— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) September 15, 2024
Yeah, I meant serious competition. I know there were a few in for him but I don't remember him being linked with many names at all. At that price most of the PL should've been after him. I only saw him twice but I didn't think he was bad for Leverkusen in those games. One performance in particular I thought he was legitimately impressive.
At Chelsea Tuchel nearly destroyed him. Had him playing wingback and in one game subbed him on then off again.
He still had some great performances but the way he was managed at Chelsea will always get to me. His injury was purely bad luck but they didn't half mess him around with how he was used tactically, both Sarri and Tuchel. I keep banging on about how he'll play for England but even if he goes on to have a very good England career he'll still always be a huge "what if" for me because I still think he's the best I've seen in my fairly short time watching academy football. I think what he's doing now despite everything that's been thrown at him shows to me that without that injury and with a better development pathway there's a good chance he would've gone on to be an all-timer of an English player, and potentially even more. Better raw talent than anyone else from our 00-01s imo, including Foden and Saka.
PL Week 4 round up. Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler PL- Week 4 PL English Players of the Match - Week 4 Ollie Watkins - Aston Villa v Everton Harvey Barnes - Wolves v Newcastle Pl English players of their Club - Week 4 Aaron Ramsdale - Southampton Jamie Vardy - Leicester Callum Hudson - Odoi - Nottingham Forest Ollie Watkins - Aston Villa. Dwight McNeil - Everton Adam Smith - Bournemouth Harvey Barnes - Newcastle BBC Sport English players of the Match - Week 4 Jamie Vardy - Crystal Palace v Leicester Danny Ings - Fulham v West Ham Callum Hudson - Odoi - Liverpool v Nottingham Forest Harvey Barnes - Wolves v Newcastle BBC Sport English players of their Club - Week 4 Aaron Ramsdale - Southhampton Jamie Vardy - Leicester Emille Smith Rowe - Fulham Danny Ings - West Ham Callum Hudson - Odoi - Nottingham Forest Dwight McNeil - Everton Harvey Barnes - Newcastle Second and third places Pl - Tyler Dibling, Lewis Dunk, Leif Davis, Eberechi Eze, Tyrick Mitchell, Harry Winks, Maximilian Kilman, Jack Grealish, Dominic Calvert - Lewin, Tim Iroegbunam , Marcus Tavernier, Bukayo Saka, Sam Johnstone, Anthony Gordon BBC - Tyler Dibling, Kyle Walker - Peters, Lewis Dunk, Jacob Greaves, Eddie Nketiah, Adam Wharton, Stephy Mavididi, Jarrod Bowen, Maximilian Kilman, Ollie Watkins, Dominic Calvert - Lewin, Jadon Sancho, Nick Pope This week’s PL goal involvements. Goals Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) Jamie Vardy (Leicester) Stephy Mavididi (Leicester) Danny Ings (West Ham) Callum Hudson - Odoi (Nottigham Forest) Olllie Watkins (x2) (Aston Villa) Dwight McNeil (Everton) Dominic Calvert - Lewin (Everton) Harvey Barnes (Newcastle) Assists Tyrick Mitchell (Crystal Palace) Emille Smith Rowe (Fulham) Jarrod Bowen (West Ham) Ross Barkley (Aston Villa) Dwight McNeil (Everton) Jadon Sancho (Chelsea) Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) Joe Willock (Newcastle) Ramsdale, Walker - Peters, Stephens, Downes, Dibling and Archer started for Southampton. Harwood - Bellis and Lallana were used off the bench. McCarthy, Taylor and Armstrong were unused. Rashford and Mainoo started for Manchester United. Maguire was used from the bench. Collyer and Wheatley were unused. Dunk, Hinshelwood and Welbeck started for Brighton. Steele and Webster were unused. Davis, Greaves, Phillips, Hutchinson and Delap started for Ipswich. Chaplin, Hirst and Clarke were used from the bench. Walton, Johnson and Townsend were unused. Henderson, Guehi, Clyne, Mitchell, Wharton, Nketiah and Eze started for Crystal Palace. Hughes was used from the bench. Ward was unused. Justin, Winks, Mavididi, Skipp and Vardy started for Leicester. Coady and Choudhury were used from the bench. Smith Rowe started for Fulham. Reed and Nelson were used from the bench. Killman, Wan Bissaka and Bowen started for West Ham. Ings was used from the bench. Creswell was unused. Alexander - Arnold started for Liverpool. Jones was used from the bench. Gomez and Quansah were unused. Anderson, Gibbs - White, Ward - Prowse and Yates started for Nottingham Forest. Hudson - Odoi was used from the bench. Toffolo was unused. Walker, Stones, Lewis and Grealish started for Manchester City. Foden and McAtee were unused. Lewis - Potter started for Brentford. Mee, Meghoma and Trevitt were unused. Konsa, Rogers, Ramsey and Watkins started for Aston Villa. Barkley and Philogene were used from the bench. Young was unused. Pickford, Keane, Tarkowski, Young, McNeil, Harrison, Iroegbunam and Calvert - Lewin started for Everton. Garner was used from the bench. Dixon and Armstrong was unused. Smith, Cook and Tavernier started for Bournemouth. Scott was used from the bench. Dennis and Hill were unused. Colwill, Palmer and Maudeke started for Chelsea. Tosin and Sancho were used from the bench. Maddison and Solanke started for Spurs. Forster, Spence and Gray were unused. White and Saka started for Arsenal. Nwaneri and Sterling were used from the bench. Heaven and Lewis - Skelly were unused. Johnstone and Dawson started for Wolves. Doyle was used drok the bench. Pope, Hall, Livramento, Burn, Longstaff, Gordon and Murphy started for Newcastle. Trippier, Kelly, Barnes and Willock were used from the bench.
Martinelli has dipped the last two seasons. ESR Mikel just never liked him and lied to him all these years.
Best raw talent? Not for me, not even close. If anything he's a bit of a one trick pony. I mean there's Sancho, Greenwood, Saka, Gomes and Foden in those age groups!
I agree, Sancho and Foden were some distance ahead in that group. Hudson-Odoi certainly didn't have the same variety to his game and once he hit the seniors, it felt like teams worked him out pretty quickly.
He cuts inside and shoots a lot but he's a million miles away from being a one trick pony imo. If he was a one trick pony he wouldn't be getting double teamed in the Premier League on a weekly basis. Sancho is too passive for me, Gomes I don't think belongs at the absolute top of the game and Greenwood also floats in and out of games. Hudson-Odoi, if he didn't lose that raw athleticism, would be starting every game for England right now imo. I think to lose so much of your athletic ability, which was a giant part of his game, and still go on to do what he's starting to do now speaks to the depths of his tool set.
Everton boss Sean Dyche is reportedly ready to axe Jordan Pickford if his poor form doesn't improve. (Daily Mail) If these stories continue they will talk about how Pope or Henderson should replace him as England n.1
I always rated CHO very highly. IMO our most technically gifted players I can remember over the last decade or more in our youth set up have been Sancho, Foden and Ravel Morrison, but CHO isn't far behind. Sancho at Man Utd wasn't given the opportunity to take players on but we've seen at Dortmund and also hints of it at Chelsea, when you say to Sancho just take your man on, he has amazing close ball control and tricks to get past his man. He is also a good finisher.
At youth level I did rate him among the top prospects in the group. That said, even discounting his injuries he had a clear physical advantage at youth level that got levelled out in the seniors. If you mention raw potential though you're basically talking about what their ceiling is if their head is right. On that count Sancho and Greenwood are a level above Hudson Odoi, at least in my opinion. I would like to see him in the mix again though. Harvey Barnes in another to keep an eye for that left hand side.
Jude Bellingham and Aurélien Tchouaméni are both back from their injury and available for Real Madrid. “The problem is just the calendar. That’s it”, says Carlo Ancelotti.
Fireburn have you got the gossip on Bellingham's preferential treatment afforded to him during the Euros? I'm interested as to what it's supposed to entail.
I think it was not doing some media duties - he would only talk to UK broadcasters but not the UK written press. He only did a joint post match press conference with Southgate and didn’t seem to do any of the pre match ones where the player was there alone.
I don't necessarily think Sancho's passiveness in games is a product of his issues with professionalism, it's something you see with those street footballer types sometimes. Joao Felix is exactly the same. Sancho can play for both a top club and for England if he wants to but I'm not sure he'd ever be able to nail down a regular starting spot. I do agree that CHO was a physical anomaly at youth level but I think he's speed translated very well to senior level, he was rapid. He was just in an awful development environment at the time. If Sancho had come through at Man Utd instead of Dortmund we could've been saying similar things. I think you're right about Barnes. I'd written him off last season as someone to forget about but he's producing too often to keep ignoring. Ideally we'd want someone with a bit more 1v1 ability on top of the current options but he'd still be very valuable if he keeps this up.
Erik ten Hag on Luke Shaw: “He's progressing but not yet ready to be selected”. “He is progressing well. We have a plan in our head when he can be ready but you're always dependent on how the progress will go”. “There are many factors, a plan can accelerate or slow down”. ‘Erik ten Hag continues to say Luke Shaw is progressing well in his rehab but has ruled the full-back out of tomorrow's Carabao Cup tie with Barnsley. Declines to put a date on Shaw's likely return. Mount, Hojlund and Lindelof also missing but no injury issues from Saturday.’