Callum Hudson-Odoi transfer: Chelsea youngster warned by Michael Owen that Bayern Munich move will not guarantee more playing time

Former England striker Michael Owen has warned Callum Hudson-Odoi that Bayern Munich will not guarantee him any more playing time than Chelsea.

Hudson-Odoi, who has 18 months to run on his contract, has been linked with a £35 million move to the Bundesliga giants before the deadline.

The 18-year-old forward has made 11 appearances for Chelsea this season and scored in the Europa League and FA Cup, but Maurizio Sarri has been reluctant to give him Premier League minutes.

“I’ve been interested in this sort of thing for five or six years now and had a meeting with the FA about the whole dynamic of youngsters coming through and what we needed to do to change, whether that be the loan market or introducing B teams into the leagues,” Owen, who was speaking as a brand ambassador for Huawei, told the Press Association.

“The FA have made one or two changes to make it better but we are still seeing players going abroad to further their careers and get more game time.

“I commend that but the strange one in this situation is how anybody thinks that a player can leave Chelsea and go to a team like Bayern Munich and then be guaranteed to play even more.

“It’s Bayern Munich for crying out loud. It’s not a weak team on the continent. We’re talking Bayern Munich.

“I’m not sure anybody has ever been given absolute assurances that they’re going to play X amount of games when they’ve been signed. I can’t understand why everyone assumes you would go to Bayern Munich and be guaranteed to play more than you would at Chelsea.

“We are talking another level up and one of the top five clubs in the world. Have a look at Bayern’s team. It’s not bad and it’s not going to be easy to penetrate into that.

“I admire anybody that is doing it for the right reasons, but he is only 18 and is integrating into the first team. I don’t think Chelsea are doing a bad job in blooding a talented youngster.”

Owen believs Liverpool and Manchester City will not be active on deadline day and the pressure on Mike Ashley will have lessened after Tuesday’s victory over City.

“The managers in and around the relegation zone are the ones that are normally very active,” the 39-year-old said.

“It’s a little bit harder at the top because they are trying to improve their teams and it’s virtually impossible to do – you’re looking for a needle in a haystack to improve Liverpool or Man City.

“There’s only a handful of players worldwide that would be of any interest now. Unless you are buying a youngster for the future, there’s only a handful of players that are anywhere near the levels of (Mo) Salah, (Sadio) Mane and (Roberto) Firmino.

“I’d be astounded if Liverpool bought anyone to go straight into their first team.

“If Jose Mourinho was still at Man Utd I’d say there could be something because he was forever trying to get better performances. I was going to say better players but I don’t think that was quite possible.

“It was quite evident to me and most people that he had the players there, he just wasn’t getting the best out of them.

“I think they still need a top-class centre half but whether they’re going to find one now I think is doubtful so they might wait until the summer.”