A big smile breaks out on Callum Hudson-Odoi’s face when he recalls scoring a stunning goal against Burnley on his debut for Nottingham Forest this season. “In pre-season I wasn’t really playing and was just waiting to see what happened,” the former Chelsea winger says. “It was the feeling of going on the pitch and giving my best and showing everybody that I’m here again. It was: ‘Ah, finally.’”
It was a release. His final months at Chelsea were hard. The days when he was the club’s bright young hope were over. Hudson-Odoi had no option but to end his 16-year association with Chelsea when he returned from a loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen last summer.
The 23-year-old is not bitter towards his boyhood club. Hudson-Odoi, who is feeling fitter and sharper after a run of games at Forest, has fond memories from his time at Chelsea. He was the academy’s golden boy, the teenage talent who caused so much excitement when he linked up with Eden Hazard after breaking into the first team under Maurizio Sarri in 2019, and he collected his fair share of medals. He was on the bench when Chelsea won the Champions League final in 2021 and created a goal after starting in the Club World Cup final against Palmeiras the following year.
This was not a case of an overhyped talent falling short. Bayern Munich made several bids and Chelsea gave him a lucrative deal. But one setback would change everything. Hudson-Odoi was out for six months after rupturing an achilles tendon in April 2019. He had made his England debut a month earlier.
“People don’t realise how difficult it is to regain the same fitness, speed and sharpness,” he says. “It takes a lot of muscle out of your calf and other areas of your body. You don’t feel the same. I don’t think you ever will. I pushed everything daily to make sure I was coming back and injury free. But niggles happen, things happen.”
Hudson-Odoi, who joined Forest for a cut-price £3m, could not build momentum after returning from injury. He was in and out under Frank Lampard. Thomas Tuchel – “a good manager and person,” Hudson-Odoi says – brought him on and off in one game. Outsiders questioned the winger’s desire.
“I listen to my family, my friends, but I don’t like to listen to the outside noise,” he says. “You hear what people say but it’s not really true. If you know what we go through daily, you know what I do to make sure I perform to my maximum. Then you wouldn’t have the same perspective. People wouldn’t say the things they say.
“But it’s part of football. Everyone has their own narratives. But I’d say it’s unfair. It’s the perception you don’t want to give of being the person that doesn’t have the desire or determination. I’ve always had it. I’ve always loved football and always will. I’ve just got to keep doing that and stay fit. Hopefully the actions will speak on the pitch.”
Hudson-Odoi contemplates breaking through from Chelsea’s academy. “It’s not just your talent or ability on the pitch that make you play for the first team,” he says. “It’s your hard work or desire off the pitch. It’s the stuff you do, like extra gym work, to make sure you’re fully fit and ready.
“Coming through the academy, they worked really well with me and it made me go to the first team. But you can’t do that without hunger and passion to want to play in the first team and to make sure you’re playing with the best players in the world. I’ve always had that hunger. I’m still motivated to achieve more, win more games, get more goals, get more assists, help the team.”
Hudson-Odoi says the injury was “mentally draining”. Every step forward was followed by a setback. He was featuring regularly for Tuchel at the start of 2022, only for a strange injury to bring a premature end to his season.
“I was playing, scoring and assisting, and then something like that happens,” he says. “It was one of those injuries where it was a neurological problem where I was like: ‘What the hell’s going on?’”
Hudson-Odoi drifted to the margins. He got away from London, went on loan to Leverkusen and enjoyed playing for Xabi Alonso. But he needed something fixed. Forest, then managed by Steve Cooper, were an appealing prospect. He played for Cooper when England won the Under-17 World Cup.
“I’d always had a good relationship with Coops,” he says. “He’s an amazing manager, an amazing guy and he’s unfortunate it didn’t work out.”
Forest, who replaced Cooper with Nuno Espírito Santo in December, are in relegation trouble. They are three points above 18th-placed Luton before visiting them on Saturday afternoon and have one league win this year. “We’re trying to attack and score more goals,” he says. “Nuno believes in everyone. We’re playing well, we make chances, we defend well. It’s just being more focused in every game and making sure we’re getting the points.”
Hudson-Odoi, who remains eligible for England and Ghana, says Forest’s players are not thinking about the possibility of the club being docked points for breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations. He is focusing on himself. He is tricky, quick and skilful and can play on both flanks. He has scored four goals in 19 league games and looks better physically. He is happier in his body and is driving at full-backs again.
“I’ve got to the point where I’m feeling good and sharp,” he says. “All the stuff I used to do I have been doing. The injury hasn’t taken anything away from me. It was more the run of games. It’s feeling good in training every day. A lot of people around me have helped push me to the maximum level.
“When you get to the 80th minute you have that extra push, that second wind, because you feel sharper. You feel you can keep pushing. Every game I’m feeling better. I’m hopefully getting better as well.
“I’ve experienced so much in my time already in football. You look back and think there’s so much more to come. I’m only 23. I can achieve so many great things. Everything is focused on football and making sure I get the best out of myself.”
He thinks about his influences. “My mum, my dad, my brother, my sister. I started playing football when I was two years old. I was playing in the park with my brother and dad. Even stuff like that gives me inspiration.
“I look back and think even at two I knew I wanted to play football. Those are my inspirations. I look at them every day and think: ‘You lot have worked so hard and helped me so much, it’s only right I can do what I can to pay you all back.’”
