Ex-England winger Trevor Sinclair brands Callum Hudson-Odoi as 'arrogant'

Ex-England international and Manchester City winger Trevor Sinclair has branded Chelsea star Callum Hudson-Odoi as 'arrogant' for turning down England U21 invitation.

Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate confirmed on Thursday that Hudson-Odoi has rejected a call-up to join the England U21 after missing out on a place in the senior team.

England take on Albania and San Marino in World Cup qualifiers next week

The U21 side are also facing Czech Republic and Georgia during the upcoming international break.

"The only one I would say is bad is Hudson-Odoi – and I don’t mean to pick him out," Sinclair told talkSPORT.

"For me, I think that’s quite arrogant. A big part of being a footballer and a big reason why you make it is staying humble.

"There’s a lot of ups and downs. When you’re flying, you’re alright, when you’re not doing so well, you’ve got people who have got your back.

"I think Hudson-Odoi saying that he’s not playing for the Under-21s is poor."

Explaining why the 20-year-old snubbed the England U21 call-up, Southgate said:

"I had a good chat with Callum before last month’s get-together because it is difficult if you are a young player.

"You’ve been with the senior team, he went back to play with the U21s in the last cycle and then to go again in a second cycle, I can understand is a difficult challenge.

"So we would still like him to do that but he wants to back himself with his Chelsea form to get back into the seniors and I totally respect that.

"So by not being in the Under-21s he misses a bit of an opportunity to impress us and come across if we need players for training and those sorts of things.

"He has had a couple of good matches for Chelsea. I know Thomas [Tuchel] is guarded about how much he goes with praise on that but it is good to see him back playing and playing more regularly at first-team level and he knows the challenge that’s ahead.

"But he knows also that we are constantly watching him and he is young and talented enough to mount a serious challenge as we move forward."

The England-born Ghanaian youngster has made 10 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions this season, scoring once and assisting other two.

Also, watch this week's episode of the Friday debate on GhanaWeb TV with Joel Eshun in the post below: