Chilwell remembers his first taste of senior football in Yorkshire

Ben Chilwell begun his first steps into senior football with a short term loan at Huddersfield Town 

Ahead of Thursday's trip to Yorkshire to face Barnsley in the fifth round of the FA Cup Ben Chilwell sits down and discusses how a loan spell at a different championship side in that part of the country provided him with his first taste of senior football and how this because a career launch pad which would bring him to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea face Barnsley at Oakwell in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Thursday evening and as explained by Chilwell, it means a return to the region which has a significant role in his career.

As a youngster at Leicester City, whilst trying to break into the Foxes first team squad in the 2015/16 season, as they surged towards the premier league title, was not an easy task. Chilwell who was a member of the Leicester City youth team was already being touted to go on an achieve big things, however, had just managed only one league appearance so far.

After making his debut in a penalty shoot-out win over Hull City, Chilwell was handed his first opportunity for a taste in senior football with a short loan move to Huddersfield Town. 

As is often the case with young players, the move appeared to come about very suddenly as the new Huddersfield manager David Wagner, who would lead the Terriers into the premier league the following season for the first time in their history, made a move to make Chilwell his first signing for the club.

Chilwell recalls 'It was a very big move, I remember the time I was away from the England Under-20's at the time, flying back and as soon as we landed the manager Neil Dewsnip said to me that I would be travelling with the England Under-21's which was a big step in my career. 

'So then I went to meet up with the England Under-21's for the next two days, however, didn't make the squad but it felt nice to be involved and when I was in the car with my Dad on the way back I received a call from my agent to tell me that I would be going to Huddersfield the next day. So literally I drove back to my parents house with my dad, packed all my stuff and then the next morning I drove to Huddersfield.'

As it was only a short term deal, Chilwell's time in West Yorkshire lasted only six weeks between late November until the beginning of January making only eight appearances before Leicester recalled him back to provide cover for Christian Fuchs.

However, the experience was nonetheless a formative one for the left-back, which helped open his eyes to the reality and pressures of senior professional football. 

It was a pretty daunting experience at 18 years old states Chilwell. ' I remember going into a dressing room for the first time because at Leicester I was still in the Under-23's changing room. I remember going into the training ground on my first day and the then manager David Wagner called me into his office.'

'He was a fantastic manager and I enjoyed working for him, we had a chat for around half an hour about the way he wanted the team to play and how it would, this put me at ease a little bit. He then walked me into the dressing room and that was my first ever experience of sharing a dressing room with senior players where it is all about winning.'

'For me, Huddersfield was a massive step in my career in making the move from Under23's football where it is all about improving as a player into a senior men's dressing room where it is all about winning and see it's not just for fun. At the end of the day it's peoples livelihoods and me seeing that side was a big part of me growing in my career.'

Although some may well have been reluctant to miss out on being a part of Leicester City's title winning campaign, even as someone who was on the fringes of he team, Chilwell said that the opportunity to have experience in first team football was far more valuable and was something he would not change for the world. 

In fact, despite being a part of the Foxes Premier League celebrations at the end of the season, along with the fact that he only made two FA Cup appearances against Tottenham in January during the rest of the 2015/16 season, meant it was somewhat of a disappointment not be able to see out the rest of the campaign with Huddersfield.

Chilwell says 'Everyone has the assumption that you want to go back to Leicester as they were doing well. There was a part of me that wanted to do this because of how well the team was doing, but I don't think that people realise that I wasn't actually in the first team at Leicester at the time, whilst at Huddersfield I was playing every week.'

'I remember absolutely loving playing in the championship week in, week out. I loved the atmosphere in the dressing room and everything about Huddersfield. Then to go back to Leicester was very sweet because I was returning to a team which was doing well, which was great to see, but then again I wasn't playing a lot also. I don't think I ever played another minute of league football that season.'

'It was great to see the winning mentality that the Leicester changing room had and again this was a great learning experience for myself, but the best thing for me at the time would have been to stay at Huddersfield and be able to complete the whole season on loan and be able to experience playing men's football for a whole year.'

Though his time at Huddersfield may have been short and sweet, the experience Chilwell gained proved to be invaluable as he would go onto play a bigger role in Leicester's title winning campaign of 2015/16. At the beginning of the 2017/18 season Chilwell had succeeded Christian Fuchs as a regular member of the Leicester side at left back and was well on his way to being the England international who had impressed during his first season at Chelsea.

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