The 21-year-old has already played three times for the Three Lions, but hasn’t had a senior call-up since 2018.
Having been constantly left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for international assignments, Hudson-Odoi was invited to play for the U21s last year.
The winger, however, turned down the invitation, which led to severe criticism from some English tabloids and newspapers.
W O R L D C H A M P I O N S!!💙🔥 pic.twitter.com/dmLlciT020
— Callum Hudson-Odoi (@Calteck10) February 12, 2022
Reacting to this, Odoi said he wasn’t being arrogant when he turned down the call-up, insisting he only wanted to focus on becoming a regular at Chelsea.
“I didn’t not go to England because I thought I was bigger than them or I was being big time or anything like that,” he told the Daily Mail.
“It was just me trying to get back into the team in Chelsea and focusing on club football as much as possible: to be a regular player, an option to always play and be involved.
“People thought: “Oh, he’s being big time or arrogant”. Or he’s being somebody he shouldn’t be. I’m not that person at all.”
Back to 🇬🇭 for a little break! See you soon pic.twitter.com/4HtfGAvKdR
— Callum Hudson-Odoi (@Calteck10) January 24, 2022
Hudson-Odoi added: “I’m not big time. I’m not cocky. I’m very humble. I’m very relaxed. I was always thinking to myself: ‘What’s best for me in this moment?’
“For me, it was more of a fact that I wanted to stay back and try to get into the team and work as much as possible and show the manager what I’m capable of.
“I was like: ‘Sit back, don’t make a scene, don’t make any problems with England. I’m good with all the coaches there. I have no problems with any of them. If it [an Under 21 call-up] came again, who knows?”
The Chelsea star is currently being courted by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in a bid to get him to switch nationality to play for the Black Stars.