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David Luiz believes that teenage winger Callum Hudson-Odoi has enough talent to replace the departing Eden Hazard in the Chelsea attack and one day join the Belgian as a “legend” of the club. Hazard confirmed his desire to leave Chelsea for Real Madrid after he starred in their 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal in the Europa League final in Baku. Luiz said only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would be capable of replacing Hazard in the short-term, but then name-checked Hudson-Odoi, 18, as the long-term solution for Chelsea. Hudson-Odoi impressed in his breakout season for Chelsea, attracting sustained interest from Bayern Munich and making his debut for England, before a ruptured Achilles tendon ended his campaign in April. Hudson-Odoi had pushed for a move to Germany earlier in the season but he was subsequently given more game-time by head coach Maurizio Sarri and now looks increasingly likely to commit his future to the club by signing a long-term deal. Asked how Chelsea could possibly replace Hazard, who scored two and assisted another in Wednesday’s final, Luiz said: “Let’s bring in Messi and Ronaldo. I think if he goes, I just wish him all the best. He is a fantastic friend and a fantastic player. “I know Eden since he arrived here and he was so young. Now I am so happy for him because the world knows who is Eden Hazard. In life some cycles finish and some start. We have some main talents in the club to replace him. “We have many, and also Callum is great. He has this opportunity, he knows this club since he was young and he has the talent to one day try to be like Eden. So it’s new history for Callum. It didn’t start very well for him because of the injury but there is time also to improve.” Luiz added that the Europa League victory, Chelsea’s third European title since 2012, was testament to Sarri’s much-criticised philosophy. The Chelsea head coach has been lambasted by fans this season for sticking so rigidly to his ‘Sarriball’ approach but Luiz said the win over Arsenal was achieved in the Sarri way. “His first season in English football and I think he did great,” said Luiz. “He is a great person, a great guy, great manager and we have finished in the best way for him. We finished by winning a trophy for him in his way. Even after conceding a goal and it was 3-1, we continued trying to play his philosophy and score more goals. “You guys can reflect a bit and analyse a bit how difficult it was for him to be here today. He was training many, many clubs in lower divisions and he was doing one job and then he was getting his chance to try a big journey in football. “He arrives in a big European final and to do a great job like that, of course he is going to be emotional. Of course for us [the players] it is also emotional because we have our history of life to be here. He deserved that and it was a fantastic end of season for him.”
Credit:
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Credit:
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Callum Hudson-Odoi has enough talent to replace Eden Hazard and become a Chelsea "legend", claims David Luiz - The Telegraph
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