For
Callum Hudson-Odoi, his loan move to Bayer Leverkusen was always about
playing football and he knows that this is how his time in the Bundesliga
will be judged. But there are more minutes in the day than the minutes on
the pitch.
This is the story of a man living abroad for the first time, a man leaving
home for the first time. "The first time actually ever leaving London,
experienced another country, another culture, another environment,"
Hudson-Odoi tells Sky Sports.
"When you come out here it is the more the fact that you do not know the
country, the city. I am in London every day so I know my way around London.
I know where to go for dinner, I know where to go to chill and relax and I
know where to go to the movies.
"It is like you have to be more responsible for yourself because you are
here basically by yourself, having come from the UK to work and train every
day. I think it is a good thing and a lesson for me to understand things
somewhere else. I am enjoying it."
He is living in Cologne, trying to take it all in. "The other day I was
walking around and I saw the lock bridge." Over 40,000 padlocks decorate the
city's Hohenzollern Bridge, so-called love-locks placed there by couples
symbolically immortalising their relationship.
"I thought, 'This is something new, I have not seen this in London.' Just
different sights to see, different food places and stuff, seeing different
people, seeing different places."
His time in Germany is expected to be more temporary, locked in only until
the end of this season. Chances at Chelsea were limited. Omitted from the
squad for the first Premier League game of the season, he felt compelled to
seek opportunity elsewhere.
"It was good for me to just get out and enjoy myself and play football again
as much as possible," Hudson-Odoi explains.
"What everybody was saying to me about the project, it sounded great. A
different place, a different country."
He felt wanted.
"It is a very friendly club, very nice. The staff, all the players,
everybody around the place. They welcome you, they make sure you are
comfortable as soon as you come in. That is what they have done with me from
the first day I came here."
But it has not been so straightforward. A poor start to the season in which
Leverkusen won only one of their first eight Bundesliga games left last
season's third-placed team in the relegation zone and resulted in the
departure of head coach Gerardo Seoane.
Hudson-Odoi, now 22, has had to adjust to a new way of playing - a new way
of training, even. "Training here is much more difficult so I go back home
and have a big nap, a big sleep back home to recover and rest," he says,
laughing. The games are different too.
"One second you can be defending and then all of a sudden you are through on
goal. It is so quick. It is more of a counter-attacking way of playing
compared to in England, where it is more defensive and about compactness and
playing through to get through to goal.
"Here, it is end-to-end so quick. It is basically good for fast players
because if you are quick there is always a chance to get through and be one
on one, assisting a goal or whatever it is. There is always that high line
with the space to run. That is the difference."
Not missing those deep defences he faced at Chelsea, then?
"Sometimes it was annoying when you are trying to get the ball and drive and
have space to run into, they are always so deep. I think here it is a bit
more enjoyable because you have the freedom to have space on the ball and
try to drive and create problems."
Hudson-Odoi driving at a defence can be one of the more thrilling sights in
football. In 2019, aged 18, he became the youngest man to debut for England
in a competitive international, breaking a record set by Duncan Edwards in
1955. Bayern Munich wanted him.
But an Achilles injury the following month had serious consequences -
consequences that continue to be felt. "The injury was years back but I
still feel like at times there is still a thing where it niggles and gives
you problems sometimes," he admits.
"It had a big impact on me. Even other parts of my body. For example, you
try to compensate for your leg so you use other parts of your body so that
you do not use your Achilles as much.
"Then you start to get other niggles somewhere else.
"The injury is a thing where it happened years ago but it is always going to
be at the back of your mind regardless of what you are doing. I try not to
think about it as much as possible. I just play my football, do the best
that I can. You just want to play your football."
He feels that is happening again now. Encouraged by new head coach Xabi
Alonso, he is trying to influence games more, be more positive in
possession, get back to the game that made him so special. "The last couple
of seasons I was not so direct," he explains.
"So I felt I could be more direct on the ball, try to create more problems
for the defence. This season, I have had that feeling of getting back to my
sharp feeling and causing problems, taking on people, trying to create
chances, trying to get goals and assists."
He talks of "getting the momentum of me feeling myself again" and he has had
his moments in a Leverkusen shirt. His Champions League goal against
Atletico Madrid in October helped knock out Diego Simeone's side on a
dramatic night in the Spanish capital.
"Not just that I scored. Just how the game was so intense." Atletico missed
a stoppage-time penalty. "For them, they had to win. There was a ricochet
and then it was over the bar. Everything was so crazy. That is definitely
the best moment I have had here."
The Leverkusen fans have helped.
"I said before I even came that the fans here are crazy. I was watching the
game and saw how the fans are always jumping. Every time I play here," he
says, glancing towards the pitch, "it is always packed, everyone smiling and
laughing. The fans are bubbly."
Now, the aim is to finish strongly. For those fans and himself.
Five Bundesliga wins in a row under Alonso either side of Christmas helped.
"We know that we started a bit badly and we knew that we had to kick on to
get back into a good position where we know we can be. We want to keep
pushing and finish as high as possible."
And his own targets?
"Finish the best that I can really and push myself to the max," he adds. "I
wanted to come out here and get minutes into my legs and just enjoy football
really as much as possible. I think that is what has been happening. Now it
is more focused on getting the numbers up with more assists and trying to
create more chances for the team.
"I am definitely excited about the future."
Whether that can still be at Chelsea, it is unclear. He still has one year
left on his contract and can only watch from afar as expensive signing after
expensive signing arrives at Stamford Bridge. "I have not spoken to them
much recently at all," he says.
"I am not there so seeing all these players going, there is nothing I can
say or do. At the end of the day, I am focused on the club here and trying
to help as much as possible here. Whatever happens in the future, I do not
know. All I can do is focus on what happens here."
And stay positive.
"At the end of the day, you have got to keep positive. Always smiling
regardless. No matter if things are going good or bad, you cannot stress
about things. Also, when you are smiling you feel confident and good on the
ball and off the pitch as well."
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