'He has to stay' - Willian wants Hudson-Odoi to become 'one of the world's best' at Chelsea

Willian has called on Callum Hudson-Odoi to turn down Bayern Munich's £35 million ($45m) approach and stay at Chelsea, adding that he can become 'one of the best in the world' by playing at Stamford Bridge.

The 18-year-old handed in a transfer request ahead of Sunday's 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday but was still able to score, with Willian getting the other two, as the Blues booked their place in the sixth round of the FA Cup.

Hudson-Odoi has grown frustrated with his lack of game time under Maurizio Sarri, leading to him to push for Chelsea to accept the offer from Bayern.

It was just his 15th senior appearance on Sunday, but Willian thinks that the youngster can become one of the best in the world and says that everyone at Chelsea is asking him to stay.

“Yes of course. We want him to stay," Willian told reporters at Stamford Bridge. "He’s a great talent. A great player. We tell him all the time to stay here.

"We don’t want him to leave. He can become one of the best players for Chelsea and one of the best players in the world in the future. He has to stay.

“The quality he has, he has everything. He’s fast. Of course he can improve, he’s only 18, but he can improve a lot to become one of the best players. You can see from his goal that he has quality.

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"When you see players who score goals like this you have to say he has quality. We know how important he is for this club and for us and we just want him to stay.”

Meanwhile, Gonzalo Higuain made his debut after joining Chelsea on loan for six months with an option to buy him from Juventus at the end of the season.

Higuain had an underwhelming display but he had an opportunity to open his account from a spot-kick, as Willian offered him the chance to take the penalty. Higuain declined and Willian scored his 50th Chelsea goal, before netting again late on.

Willian thinks that Higuain might want to score a beautiful first goal and thanked him for helping him reach the landmark.

“I wanted to give him the ball for him to take the penalty and to score his first goal for Chelsea, but he said, ’no, you can take it, no problem’. That was the conversation," he added. "Maybe he wants to score a beautiful first goal. But it was a good conversation."

“I want to score more goals for Chelsea. Sometimes it’s not easy but I work hard to do my best.”

Higuain is likely to become a key figure for Maurizio Sarri this season as they rekindle their connection that saw the 31-year-old net 36 times in 35 games in the 2015-16 season, breaking the all time Serie A scoring record in a single campaign in the process.

And Willian noticed signs that Higuain will have a major impact as Chelsea continue to fight on all four fronts.

“It was good. You can see he’s a very good player, intelligent,” the Brazilian said.

“Do some movements. Come forward, too, go behind the defenders. I think he can of course improve a lot, this was just the first game. I think he will help us a lot this season.”

“He has quality, he has everything to score goals for Chelsea.”