'I just had to leave' - Callum Hudson-Odoi explains Chelsea exit despite huge pay rise as he prepares for Stamford Bridge return with Nottingham Forest

Hudson-Odoi joined Chelsea as a seven-year-old but left the Blues for Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2023 despite having signed a massive contract at Stamford Bridge. The forward looked to have a bright future ahead of him at in west London after breaking into the first team, but slipped down the pecking order after suffering an Achilles injury and eventually moved on after a loan spell with Bayer Leverkusen.

Hudson-Odoi is set to make his first return to Chelsea next weekend when Nottingham Forest travel to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. Forest have already made waves this season by beating Liverpool at Anfield thanks to a goal by Hudson-Odoi, and the forward is looking forward to heading back to familiar surroundings.

He told the Daily Mail: "I got the opportunities at Chelsea and played a lot of games. But I got to the point where I had to look at it and realize it had been nice, but it was time to go. It was a big decision but the right one. You have to recognize when it is the right time to move on. And that was my time. A case of needing to get out of there — not in a bad way — but to go and find my football again and enjoy myself again. It’s a nice feeling to go back to Chelsea next week, I haven’t been back since I left. Hopefully the fans won’t boo me, hopefully they will clap or something. I’ve got a lot of love for Chelsea, that’s the club I grew up with as a kid, but we’ll go there as the same mentality as we did against Liverpool to hopefully get three points."

Both teams have fixtures to play before they meet in the Premier League. Forest take on Fulham on Saturday, while Chelsea play Brighton and then take on Gent on Thursday in the Conference League.