Lazio are thought to have joined Fulham in the race to sign Callum Hudson-Odoi from Chelsea.
Hudson-Odoi, 22, has reportedly told the Blues that he wants to leave Stamford Bridge this summer in search of first-team football, after a season on loan at Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.
Fulham saw their opening bid for the England winger rejected, as Chelsea eye a larger fee, and now the Cottagers face competition from Serie A.
Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla reports that Lazio have Hudson-Odoi’s name on a list of possible targets, with a loan move hinted at ahead of a possible full-time switch.
Hudson-Odoi has one year left on his contract at Chelsea, so unless the Blues extend his deal before letting him leave, a full-season loan would equivalate to letting him leave for free anyway.
Lazio are preparing for the start of the Serie A season, which begins for them on August 20 away to Lecce.
Last season, they finished the league in second place, 16 points behind runaway winners Napoli, but now they need to focus on a deep run in the Champions League, with several Italian sides making the latter stages this year.
Hudson-Odoi has three England caps to his name, earned in 2019, but has struggled to find a first-team club place, or get back into Gareth Southgate’s national plans.
The winger made 21 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen in all competitions during the 2022-23 season, as he stepped away from Chelsea for the campaign, which saw the Blues falter to a 12th-placed finish in the Premier League.
With Maurizio Pochettino now in charge at Chelsea, it seems that the 22-year-old is more determined than ever to leave his boyhood club, with no guarantee of a role amid constant change in the dressing room.
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