Callum Hudson-Odoi says he always wanted to play in the German Bundesliga after he was linked with several clubs during the recent summer transfer window.
The 21-year-old joined Bayer Leverkusen in order to get game-time under his belt after falling out of favour under Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge.
The move was sanctioned by owner Todd Boehly in the summer with both parties agreeing that first team football was necessary in order to help him reach his full-potential.
“I’ve always looked to the Bundesliga and thought to myself it would be a good place to try something new, a different experience,” Hudson-Odoi told BBC Sport.
“It makes you mature much quicker, especially when you have to do things here by yourself. I’m trying to cook a bit more and have been watching different stuff or I’ll call my mum over FaceTime and ask her if I’m doing things correctly.
He added, “Game time was the whole reason why I came. I wanted to develop and be a bit more responsible about stuff.”
“I think you could come over here and think ‘OK, you’ve won some trophies at Chelsea’, but you don’t want to have that mentality. You want to win more and try to help the team.
“At Chelsea, I felt like I was being a bit safe and not really wanting to drive past players but now I feel the confidence of doing all that is back.”
Hudson-Odoi has made 10 appearance for Bayer Leverkusen across all competitions and provided one assist so far.
