Hudson-Odoi: Ghana intensify chase for Chelsea and England winger with presidential intervention

Ghana President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has bolstered their quest to convince Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi to switch his international allegiance from England.

Son of Ghanaian immigrants in the United Kingdom, the winger is among a host of UK-born players on the radar of the Black Stars, the other targets include Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah and Brighton & Hove Albion fullback Tariq Lamptey.

Champions League winner Hudson-Odoi, who is currently on holiday in Ghana after being snubbed by England for the upcoming European Championship, paid a courtesy call on Akufo-Addo on Monday evening, days after the 20-year-old opened the door for a possible international switch.

"On Monday, 7th June 2021, Ghanaian-born Chelsea footballer, Callum Hudson-Odoi, paid a courtesy call on me at Jubilee House, the seat of our nation's presidency," the Ghana ministry of information has stated.

"Amongst others, I urged the Minister for Youth and Sports to explore the possibility of having Callum switch nationality, and play for the Black Stars."

Hudson-Odoi has three senior caps for England but remains eligible for a switch of national associations provided he does not add a fourth cap for the Three Lions.

Should he wish to play for the Black Stars, he will have to wait until November next year to do so as Fifa rules demand that players become eligible for a switch only three years after their last appearance for the association they wish to leave.

Hudson-Odoi made his senior debut for England in a European Championship qualifier against the Czech Republic in March 2019, becoming the youngest-ever player to make his debut in a competitive match for England, aged 18 years and 135 days, breaking the record set by Duncan Edwards in 1955 by 40 days.

Three days later, he was in action against Montenegro and made his third and last appearance against Kosovo in November in the same year.

“I think obviously when you’re young, you have the opportunity to play for England throughout all the years, from under 15 to under 16 all the way up,” the attacker said at an event last weekend. 

“When they obviously gave me the opportunity to come I was in the country already. It’s something that I already had in my mind, set on already playing for England.”

“So it was the thing obviously choosing Ghana or England, and at the end of the day I said I always had the right people around me who always advise me – what’s right, what’s wrong. England came and I said 'Yeah, let me go and play for my country.

“But I said Ghana is my home as well, so we’ll see, we’ll see. You’ll never know, so." 

His father Bismark played for Ghana Premier League side Hearts of Oak and his older brother Bradley featured for Ghana's U20 side.