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Friday 12 April 2019 11:54, UK
Eden Hazard believes Callum Hudson-Odoi is “the future of Chelsea” and that he is already playing like an experienced winger.
Having impressed off the bench this season, Hudson-Odoi made just his second Premier League start in Chelsea's 3-0 win over West Ham on Monday Night Football.
And Hazard, who could be on the move to Real Madrid as Sky Sports News understands the Spanish giants are increasingly confident of signing the forward this summer, believes the 18-year-old has a bright long-term future in west London.
"He's the future of Chelsea," Hazard exclusively told Sky Sports.
"I've told him already. He's still young but when you see him he looks like he's played 10 years.
"He's a great guy to work with, he's been fantastic. He wants to learn and he's young so I hope Chelsea can keep him for a long time.
"He's got quality, sometimes I understand it's hard to get young players in the team because we have people like me, Willian, Pedro.
"But when he has the chance to play they have to show they're ready and Callum is showing that right now."
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri admits he is powerless to keep the Belgium international at the club if he wishes to leave, but the 28-year-old forward says the Chelsea squad are now adapting to the Italian's management style.
"Like I said before, he's a fantastic manager," he said.
"After [Antonio] Conte it wasn't easy, he came here with his own ideas. It's not easy to play the way he wants but now we are starting to understand.
"We have to adapt a little bit, but for a first season we got to the Carabao Cup final, the league is going okay and we can win Europa League. We just need to see how we finish.
"We are working a lot because this manager is different to Conte, who is different to [Jose] Mourinho.
"When you get a new manager it's not easy to change everything but we've seen the last two to three weeks we can play well under this manager."
Chelsea travel to Liverpool on Super Sunday pursuing a top-four finish with five league matches to go.
And although Hazard respects Liverpool's efforts this season, he hopes Chelsea can derail their title challenge by leaving Anfield with all three points.
He added: "They've been on fire for two years, not just this season.
"It's a fantastic team to watch, the manager is great - some of the best players in the world. It's going to be a good game, a hard one but it's always hard at Anfield.
"We want to win to get into the top four, we don't care about the title race.
"I want to say [Manchester] City [will win the title] because we have Liverpool still to play."
