One to Eleven | Chem Campbell

Wolves under-23 winger Chem Campbell is the latest Academy star to give wolves.co.uk an insight into his life on and off the pitch in the One to Eleven series.

FACTFILE

• Position: Forward
• Birthdate: 30^th December 2002
• Hometown: Birmingham
• Nationality: Welsh
• Time at Wolves: Six years

1. What do you remember from the first time you played football?

My earliest memories would have been when I was playing for my team in Sunday League when I was about six-years-old and we played our closest rivals. We beat them and I scored the winner.

2. Have you always wanted to be a footballer?

Yeah, always. I was always focused on that and nothing else when I was younger. Nothing else really mattered to me, it was all about football and becoming a footballer.

3. How did you feel when you first joined Wolves Academy?

I came across from Blues and it was completely different. It’s Category One here and it’s a much more intense and professional environment. Everything was different here, especially the quality of the facilities, so I was just really excited just to get started and carry on.

4. What have you learnt most while at Wolves?

That’s a tough one because I’ve leaned a lot, but discipline is the big one. When you’re a kid, it’s all about what you can do with the ball, but here, it’s not just about that, it’s more about out of possession and what you have to do as a team to win the ball back. We try to imitate the first-team with the under-23s, so once you know what you’re doing with the 23s, you can go straight up with them and know what you’re doing.

5. What has been the highlight of your career so far?

Making my first-team debut. Definitely. Just going out in front of 35,000 people was a dream come true. Although I came through at Birmingham, I’m a Tottenham fan myself, but my dad supports Blues and he was in the crowd at Villa Park to watch me play his team’s rivals, so he was supporting me all the way that day.

6. How would you describe yourself as a player?

I’m creative, tricky, composed and I just love to dribble and score goals. I’m quite versatile across the attack, so can play on the left, the right or down the middle.

7. Whose playing style in the first-team do you try to emulate?

I would say [Daniel] Podence or Pedro [Neto]. They’re the players who I’m most similar to. I watch their videos to see their dribbling skills, so I can try and take a part of their game into my own.

8. What first-team player do you look up to most?

I would say [Joao] Moutinho because of his work-rate and he’s always consistent, even in training, and is someone you would love to emulate because he doesn’t do anything bad, he’s just focused on his tasks.

9. Which Wolves player’s career would you like to have?

Moutinho again. With the teams he’s played for and all the caps he’s earned with the Portuguese national team, he’s played so many game and has won everything, so I look up to him a lot.

10. What are your hopes for the next 12 months?

I just want to kick on and try and get as far as I can, as quickly as I can. You can never say what the future is going to be like, but all I can do is just keep working hard.

11. What’s the one thing you’d like to achieve in your career?

I would definitely like to win a trophy, and play in the Champions League, whoever that may be for, that’s my biggest dream.