Callum Hudson-Odoi has work to do to earn an England call-up as Thomas Tuchel once humiliated him at Chelsea
03/19/2025 04:00 PM
Callum Hudson-Odoi’s form at Nottingham Forest has brought him back into the national conversation, but his history with Thomas Tuchel makes an England call-up seem unlikely.
Hudson-Odoi cost Forest just £3m in what was a remarkable piece of business by Evangelos Marinakis, considering the output he has produced at the City Ground.
The former Chelsea man has been the man for the big occasion for Nuno Espirito Santo, scoring the winner at Anfield against Liverpool before Hudson-Odoi fired home the only goal against Manchester City.
This importance led to Forest fans wanting Hudson-Odoi to receive an England call-up but this has yet to materialise, with the 24-year-old’s last senior international appearance coming in 2019.
If Hudson-Odoi can keep up his impressive displays for the Reds, you’d like to think that he could fight his way back into Tuchel’s Three Lions plans. However, the German coach’s previous management of the wide player suggests that it might not be as simple.
Thomas Tuchel once hooked Callum Hudson-Odoi off for Chelsea, 31 minutes after subbing him on
Forest fans aimed a dig at Tuchel for his decision not to call up Morgan Gibbs-White to his first England squad, a decision he then reversed. No such reversal has been made for Hudson-Odoi, though, who has been on the end of brutal Tuchel decisions in the past.
During the 2020/21 Premier League season, Hudson-Odoi was substituted on at halftime as Chelsea trailed Southampton. However, just 31 minutes later, Tuchel hooked the winger back off in a sign of clear frustration over his display.
Speaking after the game with TNT Sports, Tuchel said: “We brought in Hudson but with Hudson, I was not happy with the energy and with the attitude of the pressing so we decided to take him off again because we demand a lot, we demand 100 per cent and I had the feeling that he was not right in this shape where he can help us.
“It was a decision for today, a hard decision I know for the players to come on and off but tomorrow it is forgotten and he has every opportunity to start against Atletico [Madrid].”
Hudson-Odoi’s Premier League minutes became inconsistent after the Southampton display, never fully recovering until he initially left on loan to Bayer Leverkusen, before joining Forest in 2023.
His impact on the Forest squad has shown any of these issues Tuchel found are no longer present, but pundit Jamie Carragher felt the German coach was perhaps being unfair.
Jamie Carragher disagreed with Thomas Tuchel’s treatment of Callum Hudson-Odoi
The conversation about the winger’s substitution continued into Monday Night Football on Sky Sports, where Liverpool legend Carragher gave his thoughts on the Hudson-Odoi situation.
Carragher said: “A manager is paid to make decisions and get results […] what I’ve actually got a problem with after analysing the performance, I’m trying to find what the big problem was.
“[…] the two times he lost it [the ball] poorly, just watch his reaction. When you talk about counter-pressing, he’s sprinting, he’s going after the ball when he’s lost it so again I didn’t quite see [Tuchel’s problem with] that.
“[…] when the manager says it’s his counter-pressing that he wasn’t happy with, these are the best instances I can find of it and I can’t really see too much of a problem.”
Forest are hoping to tie Hudson-Odoi to a new contract which proves that the Forest manager certainly doesn’t share the same issues that Tuchel did. It is unfortunate to think that this issue could potentially have an impact on the 24-year-old’s England opportunities for the foreseeable, though.
