https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11223037/
'You don't want to be on the bench thinking ''why am I not playing?''':
After watching his career stall thanks to injuries and tumultuous nature
of Chelsea, Callum Hudson-Odoi is feeling welcome and appreciated again on
loan at Bayer Leverkusen
By ROB DRAPER - UPDATED: 23:54 BST, 17 September 2022
The key moment for Callum Hudson-Odoi at the BayArena, Leverkusen, on
Tuesday night came in the 87th minute, when he picked up the ball in his
own half.
https://i.imgur.com/4dAPuqF.jpg
Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid had been gnarly and obdurate opponents all
night but, having conceded three minutes earlier, they were now a little
bit open for the first time.
Hudson-Odoi sensed it. Playing as a No10 — he had started the game wide
left — he saw Mario Hermoso, a Simeone veteran and Spanish international,
approaching. And he knew he had the speed to expose him. 'I saw him coming
and I knew from earlier that, if I take a touch around him, I'm going to
get past him,' the 21-year-old said later.
https://i.imgur.com/KJR3zg7.jpg
A shimmy and a quick stab of the ball around the Spaniard and Hudson-Odoi
was off. He was making strides into the Atletico half and then saw
substitute Jeremie Frimpong outside him. 'I thought, 'He's got fresher
legs. Just give it to him and let him go!'
Frimpong played in Moussa Diaby who was arriving at the far post to score:
2-0. The BayArena erupted. There were 25,000 there on Tuesday night but
this being Germany, where fans have status and are empowered to create
atmosphere, it felt like 50,000.
Bayer Leverkusen needed this. They have had an awful start to the season
and were sat second-bottom of the Bundesliga, so beating one of Europe's
finest teams felt like a potential turning point. And it was for these
moments Hudson-Odoi came here.
After 90 minutes, he was substituted and universally applauded, as he had
performed well and his link-up with Frimpong, which created the opening
goal, was hugely encouraging. The fans behind the subs' bench stood and
applauded until he acknowledged them. It was as though they wanted to be
sure he felt welcome and appreciated.
They can be reassured he does. The alternative for Hudson-Odoi, the man
who broke Duncan Edwards' record when he made his England debut at 18 —
the youngest player to do so in a competitive game — was not quite as
enticing at Chelsea. At least, it wouldn't have been under Thomas Tuchel.
https://i.imgur.com/Kh2kb7G.jpg
What would Wednesday's Champions League game against Red Bull Salzburg at
Stamford Bridge have looked like for Hudson-Odoi?
If he was lucky, he would have had a seat as a privileged spectator on the
subs' bench. Then, after the game, as the first-team players file through
what is known as the mixed zone, the unused subs can be seen doing a
late-night training session, performing shuttle runs under the deputy
assistant fitness trainer.
Instead, Hudson-Odoi was in Germany playing his part in a famous victory
against first-rate opponents. Last Saturday he was at Hertha Berlin, under
pressure to perform for a struggling team with a manager who needed a
result. They got a 2-2 draw. Real football, 90 minutes worth of it, rather
than the odd cameo from the bench.
“这些是你想参加的比赛。像在这样的夜晚踢球是一种奇妙的感觉：你知道你正
在开始，在很多球迷的关注下，在一个巨大的气氛中，面对像马竞这样的大球队。”
He is sat in a quiet corner of the bar at the hotel which had been home
since the hastily arranged loan move, before he moved out to an apartment
at the end of last week. Some die-hard fans and hardened executives are
still drinking Weissbier as midnight approaches, but Hudson-Odoi sticks to
soft recovery drinks. 'I enjoyed that!' is his summary of the evening.
There's been much in the last year you suspect he hasn't massively enjoyed
as he waited for regular game time. It's the quandary super clubs such as
Chelsea find themselves in: what do you do with a superbly talented young
player?
Manchester City managed it well with Phil Foden, but Jadon Sancho went to
Borussia Dortmund rather than risk the netherworld of being the glorified
extra in a star-studded squad. Both were team-mates of Hudson-Odoi when
England won the Under 17 World Cup in 2017.
Chelsea have always used the loan system. When Mason Mount was 18, he was
at Vitesse Arnhem, and, when he was 19, he was at Derby County. Reece
James was at Wigan at 18. Both will be part of Graham Potter's starting XI
and Gareth Southgate's World Cup plans.
But when Hudson-Odoi was 18, Bayern Munich made a ￡20million bid for him.
At 19, Bayern wanted him on loan with a ￡70m buy-out clause. When he was
20, Dortmund wanted him on loan. On both occasions, different managers,
Frank Lampard and Tuchel, said no, because he was too good to let go —
though too young, apparently, to play consistently.
https://i.imgur.com/ku0mleV.jpg
Hudson-Odoi has lived in that limbo for a couple of years. There have been
good moments. He was on the bench for their Champions League win in 2021,
but that was a vicarious experience. He played in the UEFA Super Cup and
World Club Cup final wins, providing the assist for Chelsea's equaliser in
Abu Dhabi. But the nadir came at the start of this season, when Tuchel
didn't even have him in the squad for the opening game at Everton.
“审视自己是个困难时刻：我是否做错了什么，以至于没有入选？我永远不会说
图赫尔的坏话，他是个好人，也是一个优秀的教练，但本赛季的第一场比赛真的令人
沮丧，任何不能入选大名单的球员都能理解那种挫折。”
https://i.imgur.com/eglfWP4.jpg
“经常踢球能让你保持稳定，你踢的比赛越多，你的状态就越稳定，状态就会越
好。然后你感觉更有活力，你感觉更好，你觉得... 不是说你得到了公平的对待，而
是你得到了主帅的信任，可以推动你，激励你。你不想在板凳上想， '为什么我不能
上场踢球？' 然后过了几个星期，当你能上场的时候，腿可能已经生锈了。最重要的
是要有稳定的上场时间。这就是我在这里得到的，它让我感觉更好。”
“现在有比赛踢，气势回来了，我重新振作起来。新联赛、全新体验，我知道每
周都有机会去比赛，享受它，微笑着面对它，这绝对是一种新鲜的感觉。”
The decision to come here was done so with the encouragement of Chelsea
team-mate Kai Havertz, whose early years were spent at Leverkusen and
where he remains a local hero.
“哈佛兹的建议只有好话。他说 '我在这里发展得很好，球队推动了我的进步，
他们让我成为一名更好的球员，就是今天的我。' 他催促我来： '去发展你自己、做
你自己、自由。我们知道你能做些什么。你只需要去一直展示它'。”
https://i.imgur.com/O9jqA9y.jpg
We're so used to parroting the line about the Premier League being the
best league in the world, we forget that the best-attended is the
Bundesliga. And that because fans are an intrinsic part of the social
fabric of clubs, the atmosphere is invariably better.
Hudson-Odoi was taken aback by the intensity of 40,000 fans at Hertha
Berlin's iconic Olympic Stadium last weekend. 'It was very intense,' he
says. 'The fans were crazy, a very good atmosphere. The stadium was
massive.'
What is also intriguing is the pitch Chelsea's new owner Todd Boehly made
to Hudson-Odoi. When the loan deal was being negotiated, Tuchel was still
manager. He didn't appear keen on letting him go, but Boehly met with
Hudson-Odoi and understood why he needed it.
Boehly had one sticking point, however: there would be no clause for Bayer
Leverkusen to make the deal permanent. Hudson-Odoi is exactly the kind of
player Boehly wants Chelsea to nurture.
被老板挽留是全新的体验，阿布拉莫维奇可不会这么做，“确实很不同，当一家
俱乐部试图租借一名球员时，他们总是希望在赛季结束时能选择买断你。但伯利跟我
说： '听着，我们希望你回到这里。' ”
“我仍在俱乐部的未来计画中。按照他试图建立它的方式，他试图在未来几年内
购买很多年轻球员。这表明他希望将年轻球员融入球队，帮助他们发展。”
Last week's comments from Boehly at a business conference provide further
understanding. He name-checked Kevin De Bruyne and Mo Salah, erroneously
attributing their rise to Chelsea's academy. However, his point was more
broadly well made: Chelsea had those players as youngsters and lost them
because Jose Mourinho was more focused on short-term job preservation than
long-term development.
As such, Chelsea allowed two of the world's great players to slip through
their clutches. It seems Boehly doesn't want to risk the same happening
again. For all the strides Lampard made with James, Mount and Tammy
Abraham, the link-up between academy and first team remained flawed.
https://i.imgur.com/HfA2Brh.jpg
Boehly is impressed with Neil Bath's academy but revealed there still
remain unnecessary firewalls, with data not shared with the first team.
Lampard helped Abraham become an international but Tuchel didn't fancy him
and the club has spent ￡110m since trying to sign a centre forward. Marc
Guehi and Fikayo Tomori play for England now but opted to leave Chelsea
last summer to develop; this summer Chelsea spent more than ￡100m on new
centre-halves because they had let two contracts run down.
In this context, the appointment of Potter makes more sense. Chelsea see
him as the man to build the bridge between academy and first team as a
long-term manager.
And so Hudson-Odoi will continue his quest in Germany for now. He is also
a beneficiary of an excellent European education system and the ubiquity
of the English language. 'The whole squad speak English,' he says. 'Banter
is very strong!'
New friendships are being made and old acquaintances will soon be renewed.
In two weeks' time he will be at Bayern Munich and up against fellow
former Whitgift School team-mate, Jamal Musiala. The pair grew up together
in south London at Chelsea's academy. When Dortmund come, he can hook up
with Jude Bellingham, a former England Under 21 team-mate.
'It's good for young talents to come here, play games and experience
something new,' he says. 'Sometimes you're from London, you want to stick
to that. But it's time to come and develop, try something new and be open
to it.'
Hudson-Odoi is properly out of the comfort zone now. And he couldn't look
happier.
https://bbs.hupu.com/55580367.html