Bayern Munich used ‘common sense’ to call off Hudson-Odoi talks after €77m Chelsea demand — report

Bayern Munich made a third pass in 18 months at Callum Hudson-Odoi at the end of the transfer window, but just as last summer and the January before, the teenager stayed with Chelsea. And this time, we didn’t even have to deal with any transfer requests!

Chelsea’s version of how things played out last week involved rejecting Bayern’s loan bid and the included £70m buy-option. Given that Callum was the only fit winger at the time, that would’ve made sense even if we were adamant about not selling.

Bayern were expected to return with another bid, but instead ended up signing Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, 31, and brought back Douglas Costa, 30, on loan from Juventus as well.

But every player has a price, as they say — even Lionel Messi! — and SportBild claim in their post-mortem today that Chelsea’s price for the 19-year-old was similar to the amount offered, but with one key difference. Well, two key differences. Amongst the differences were such provisions as...

The key difference was that Chelsea apparently wanted that fee to become guaranteed, an “obligation” after a certain number of appearances — so practically a sale rather than a loan — and we also wanted a penalty fee of an unknown amount if Hudson-Odoi were to not reach that number. Basically, we would’ve gotten paid either way, and probably paid handsomely.

And so, as per the report, Bayern “used common sense” to call off the talks and end their pursuit.

Thank you, come again, except don’t.