Callum Hudson-Odoi is a victim of systematic character assassination by the media. Unfortunately, this has been bought by fans who either naïve or have their own agendas to pursue. This has to stop.

Let me explain. (THREAD)

You ask the common Chelsea fan about CHO and the first thing you’ll hear is that he has a “bad attitude”.

Where did this claim even come from? Was it because Bayern showed an interest in him?

The Europa League is perhaps the best place to develop youngsters. Mason Greenwood is a good recent example. Greenwood was given chances in the Europa League, performed well and is now an established player.

What did the Sarri do with Hudson-Odoi?

He benched him for Victor Moses and similar players for the first few games and gave him a belated opportunity. CHO did not complain and went on to perform in his limited chances.

What happened next? He was benched again.

Bayern, one of the biggest clubs on the planet, offered him an opportunity to play, a pay-rise and their famous #10 jersey.

If you were him, would you have not thought about it? Are you seriously going to blame him for not getting a chance?

For all the talk about Sarri saying he was “not ready”, CHO was consistently among our best players in whatever competition he played.

Danny Rose even called him the toughest player he had faced throughout the season after the League Cup semifinals.

As an 18 year old, it would have been easy for him to complain to the media to complain about a lack of opportunities.

What did he do? He put his head down, trained hard, was among our best players whenever he played and finally got a deserved chance in March.

When he did get his chance, he grabbed it with both hands. Let’s not forget CHO has 18 goal contributions in 24 starts in his career.

Despite all the pressure on him, he continued performing at a great level. Do players with “bad attitude” stay focused like that?

He was subject to vile racist abuse too and reacted in a remarkably calm and professional way.

Do players with a “bad attitude” do that?

Not once did he complain to the media. Not once did he open his mouth in public to put pressure on the club or anything of that sort. All he wanted was an opportunity and he went about it in a very professional way.

Hudson-Odoi acted as professionally as you can expect from a footballer and gets called a “money grabber”.

I don’t mean to insult Pulisic but let’s not forget he complained to the media in September. Is that “bad attitude”?

As luck would have it, he suffered a cruel injury that ruled out him for months. Most Achilles injuries take 8-12 months to heal. Hudson-Odoi returned in just 4 months, way ahead of schedule.

Tell me, is this bad attitude?

He is not without his mistakes and breaching the lockdown was in poor taste. But is he the only teenager to make a mistake? Did we all not make mistakes while young?

Look up Hazard, Neymar and 95% of top footballers and they would have made mistakes at 19 too.

The injury set his development back by at least a year but this period is when he needs the support of the fans more than anything else. Why are fans ready to jump on him at every possible opportunity?

Give him some breathing space.

The reaction when CHO conceded the penalty against United shocked me. It was almost as if people enjoyed him failing.

He is coming back from a grueling injury, he deserves more time and opportunities than a normal player.

I feel there is a section of the fanbase ready to criticize him at every opportunity simply because one specific manager, who they happen to idolize, did not like him.

Please understand that his circumstances now aren’t what they were 12 months ago. Let go of your hatred.

To conclude, remember CHO is still among our best talents. He has not had the greatest time of late but that is no excuse to abandon him.

He may well need a loan spell to get game-time but don’t go around throwing false accusations. Please.