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LONDON -- Chelsea assistant manager Gianfranco Zola insisted that the club wants Callum Hudson-Odoi to stay after the 18-year-old marked what could be his final appearance at Stamford Bridge with an impressive goal in Sunday's 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fourth round. Hudson-Odoi was picked to start by Maurizio Sarri less than 24 hours after sources told ESPN FC that he had handed in an official transfer request to Chelsea as he attempts to force a January move to Bayern Munich, whose latest bid for the winger is believed to be in the region of £35 million. Willian netted twice to ensure Chelsea a comfortable passage into the fifth round but it was Hudson-Odoi who provided the moment of the match, latching onto Andreas Christensen's floated pass before firing a left-footed shot beyond Keiren Westwood. The goal was greeted by chants of "Hudson-Odoi, we want you to stay" from Stamford Bridge. After the match the academy prospect refused to be drawn on his future, but Zola made Chelsea's position clear. "We want him to stay as well, we were singing for him to stay," Zola said. "I don't know [what will happen but] we want him to stay. He has a contract, we are training. We believe in what he can do for this team. "I don't think there are many 18-year-old players around Europe that are are playing as much as him in a big team. If you look at Juventus, all the big teams they don't have many 18-year-old players playing like we do. "That shows that we believe in him, we think he can be an important player for us, so we will see what happens." Hudson-Odoi's transfer request has ramped up the pressure on Chelsea heading into the final days of the January transfer window, with Bayern very confident that a deal to sign him will be completed this month. Zola added that while Sarri and his coaching staff value Hudson-Odoi highly, the question of whether he stays or leaves is ultimately out of their hands. "I am not the club, I work for the club," he said. "I can do as much as I can, but then these are decisions that don't belong for me. There is certainly a good understanding between the management and the club, but at the end of the day I cannot say more than that." Zola also had words of encouragement for Gonzalo Higuain, who played 82 minutes but did not find the net on his first Chelsea appearance since arriving on a lucrative loan deal from Juventus last week. "Considering it is the first game, you will see more from him," Zola insisted. "A couple of times in the first half he made a couple of great moves but we couldn't find the right ball. I am personally satisfied with him, but he is going to get better because he needs to build up an understanding with the others. "Sometimes in the first half he was making movements but we couldn't see his movements and this is something we need to do."
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