I remember having discussions throughout last season, both on end off here, about Kante & his role, and it did feel like a lot of people (including experienced, respected pundits) were misunderstanding both Kante and the role he was being asked to do. It did actually feel like people were mistaking him for Makelele at times (and I’m only saying that half jokingly!)

Re: CHO, Sarri kept him with the first team after that pre-season and he started the Charity Shield but, unfortunately for him, he had a poor game in a poor overall team display and then we went on not to lose a League game until late November, so he was being limited to Europa games. To be fair, I don’t really remember people calling for him to start playing until that sort of December/January time, when the Bayern news came out. I wasn’t too impressed with all of that speculation and it did lower my opinion of CHO at the time, to be honest.

It’s telling that before he got fit and as he started becoming available for selection again, Frank singled him out to basically make sure the kid knew that clearly exceptional natural talent alone wasn’t going to guarantee him a place in this team, and I really think that’s done him some good. I’m delighted the injury doesn’t seem to have affected him or his game, and if he stays fit & provided his attitude stays good, he’ll be such a huge player for us.

https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/callum-hudson-odoi-chelsea-first-team-maurizio-sarri-premier/1e363xvo3sgi91gxih918lxz13