Last season is certainly some act to follow but Gideon Kodua is up for the challenge.
The FA Youth Cup-winning skipper is a few days into the U21s pre-season tour of Spain and is in good spirits.
The first stage of his permanent switch to the Premier League 2 level is a pre-season camp in Murcia over the past week.
As someone who lives football, Kodua doesn’t mind much when training. But, alongside his teammates, the heat in Spain is pushing him further and further. And so, running, at the end of long sessions, in the heat too, has pushed his love of the game, no doubt.
“Oh, I minded that. Oh, my days!” he laughs, cooling off after strength and conditioning coach Ben Male led a sequence of long runs to end Tuesday’s training session. “We are getting used to the heat, but it is tough. It’s about taking your time when you're doing your sprints because you don’t want to burn yourself out.”
Sat in the dugout, he’s laughing but relieved the runs are over. He still had some energy to help goalkeeping coach Billy Lepine run a drill with Mason Terry and Jacob Knightbridge after the outfield players have finished the session.
Perhaps, he has teammate Patrick Kelly to thank for the energy left in the tank and only ending the session with three long runs rather than four.
The Northern Irish midfielder took on a challenge from Male and, as accurate on the pitch as he is on the golf course earlier in the week, chipped the ball into the net from behind the goal to reduce the number of runs for his teammates.
“If he didn’t, we would have had to do more runs,” Kodua smiles. “But because he did it, we got one less. So, PK helped us out, yeah!”
As Kodua makes his way back up to the hotel from training to join his teammates in an ice bath, he has some time to reflect on the week and what comes next. Making the step to the development side is one he did in part last year, playing five Premier League 2 matches under lead coach Mark Robson, but this time around it will be a full campaign at this level.
While most of his game time was with the U18s last season, he more than passed the test. In the league, it was 11 goals in 16 matches. In the FA Youth Cup, eight goal contributions in six games.
Now, it is about taking that to PL2 on a permanent basis. Another challenge Kodua has gleefully accepted.
“100 percent, this is another level,” the hard-working winger adds. “But I have got the get used to it. The physicality is different, but the running is a lot more too.
“People are smarter because when you press them, they can pop it around you, so you’ve got to be more intelligent when you run you don’t tire yourself out. It feels normal being with this group. Levi [Laing] and a lot of the older boys I have known for years so it’s just getting used to playing football with them every day.”
What is clear is that he won't be making that step alone, though. Former U18s Kelly and Lewis Orford are involved too. As are Ollie Scarles and the rest of the attacking trio – alongside Kodua – in George Earthy and Callum Marshall, who won the FA Youth Cup. It’s a trio he enjoys playing with and is looking forward to do so once more this year.
“Me, George, and Cal have that freedom when we play,” Kodua explains. “Because we’re so high up the pitch, we have that mindset of if it goes wrong it doesn’t matter. So, we are always trying stuff. And I kind of like that because it means we can play that freedom and hope to score some goals.”
Last season that was of course the case. And one that was certainly at the top of a large haul of goals came in north London. Not many players head into their first full Premier League 2 campaign with a goal as good as his last May. A chip from 35 yards. At the Emirates and in an FA Youth Cup final too.
A tough one to beat. The question, in jest, is has he peaked? The answer: no chance. “Nah, I've got to top that!” the 18-year-old explains. “There is no way that can be the best goal I score. It’s a very big one to top but 100 per cent I can do that!
Maybe in a FA Cup final one day, then! Kodua laughs. “Ahaa! Yeah, that’s the plan!”
