Charlie Cresswell on leaving Leeds and loving Toulouse: ‘I was scared but it’s been great’

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Sitting in a Toulouse hotel room last July, Charlie Cresswell was struggling to get his head around it all. The then 21-year-old was with his father and agent, Richard, putting the pieces together for a new direction in his career.

Before taking the final decision to transfer from Leeds United to the club in south-west France, Cresswell admits he was scared. English football was all he had ever known. He was in his comfort zone — his boyhood club, his native language, after a childhood spent watching his dad play in England — yet here he was, leaping from it.

Cresswell senior played professionally for eight clubs over nearly 20 years, and the furthest from Leeds were Leicester City — 82 miles away. So a transfer abroad was uncharted territory for both of them.

“I can’t lie,” Cresswell tells The Athletic. “I was definitely scared. I was definitely, moving out here, like, ‘Whoa, this is going to be mad’.

“At the start, I remember being sat in a hotel room with my dad and I was thinking, ‘This is mad, moving to France’. I never thought that’d happen, I thought I’d be in England forever.

“Football can take you anywhere and everywhere. You’ve got to get your head around it quickly and get on. Once I actually made the decision to come here, all the fear and nerves went away and I just became excited.”

Cresswell headed to a city more famous for its six-time European champion rugby union team and its sausages than its football club, and backed himself to make the grade.

The centre-back was jumping into Ligue 1, one of Europe’s top five domestic leagues, off the back of just 137 minutes across five appearances in last season’s Championship, the second tier of English football, but he has made a mockery of any doubts people may have had about his chances in France.

Cresswell celebrates scoring against Angers in March (Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images)

Cresswell appeared in 31 of Toulouse’s 34 matches in French football’s 18-team top division and played more minutes across all competitions (2,878) than any of his team-mates. He started all but two (missing both due to suspension) league matches from October 20 on as his new team finished 10th. Only three players in the division bettered the 191 clearances he made, while only Brest’s gigantic 6ft 5in (197cm) striker Ludovic Ajorque won more than Cresswell’s 98 aerial duels.

“It’s gone well,” Cresswell says. “I’m happy with the way it’s gone. I do back myself. I knew what I was capable of, it was just a matter of actually doing it. I think I’ve done a pretty good job this year. I don’t know if I’ve done anything magnificent. I just feel like I’ve been pretty solid. The manager has been great with me. He’s a really top coach, a top person as well. He’s been great for me.”

The manager in question is Carles Martinez Novell, a 41-year-old Spaniard who was named Toulouse head coach in summer 2023. This is his highest profile role to date, but the four years he spent coaching in Barcelona’s youth academy from 2015 jump out when you look at his job history.

“He’s definitely opened my eyes to a different way football can be played,” said Cresswell. “He’s helped me massively just in the details. “In every little thing I do on the pitch, what positions I need to be in, what different aspects of my game I’ve just picked up on through him helping me. It’s been brilliant for me to come out and learn. There’s still a lot of improvement to do.”

Martinez Novell is just one of the people behind what was one of the more unexpected transfers out of Elland Road last summer. After a difficult season on the fringes under Daniel Farke, Cresswell was widely expected to depart in the close season, but Ligue 1 and Toulouse would have been on nobody’s bingo card.

Cresswell playing for Leeds in 2023 (George Wood/Getty Images)

President Damien Comolli, formerly of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, and director of recruitment Viktor Bezhani, formerly a scout for Brentford, Watford and Leicester City, were keen on Cresswell, though. While his playing time had been limited with Leeds, the youngster’s 30 appearances on loan at Championship side Millwall in 2022-23 caught their eye.

“Toulouse are a data-driven club and my data was looking good on their charts,” Cresswell says. “They took a chance on me and watched me for a while. I spoke to Damien and I spoke to Viktor, who I owe a lot to. He was really good with me at the start of it all. He knows what English people are like, so he was really good with helping me make the move.”

Aside from that season with Londoners Millwall, Leeds were all Cresswell had known when it came to his football, having joined their academy in 2013. Leaving behind his loved ones was one thing, but crossing the English Channel was another entirely.

Friends and family have hardly needed much convincing to fly over for visits to one of the more picturesque parts of the world. Girlfriend Hannah moved with Cresswell, too, easing the transition into a new life for them both.

“It’s not been easy,” Cresswell says. “Our first time moving outside the country was a challenge. I know not many English players tend to go outside of England, so it was a challenge doing that at the start, but once I settled in I realised it’s actually sound. My girlfriend’s been brilliant all year, supporting me throughout it all.

“We’re a very close-knit family, so they’ve been very supportive since the get-go, through all the lows and the highs. I’ve had visitors all year. It’s been busy. I’ve had lots of friends (come over) — sometimes it’s felt a bit more like a hotel. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Cresswell after scoring for England Under-21s in October (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

If you’re in town, you may spot Cresswell in restaurants such as La Compagnie Francaise, Alba and Gaia. He and Hannah have thrown themselves into life around the city. Crucially, how’s his French coming along?

“I can order (food), I can do the simple things,” he says. “I’ve had my lessons. I’m still going with them. It’s a hard language, but I am trying. I wanted to throw myself right into it. I wanted to get stuck in properly because if you come abroad, out of your comfort zone, and you don’t chuck everything you have at it, then it’s not going to go the way you want it to.

“We have some local spots we love. We walk in, the people know our orders (laughs). We’ve tried to be adventurous with it, to go all around the city and find new places. The cafes, the restaurants, the food, the people, are all brilliant. I couldn’t have asked for a better year. I’m extremely grateful.”

Cresswell remains a Leeds fan and has thoroughly enjoyed watching his old team win the Championship title this season. His brother Alfie, 17, was also named their Under-21s’ Player of the Season.

The club are intertwined with his family, so it was a wrench for Cresswell to leave, but he knew he had to go after getting so little game time in Farke’s first season.

“Of course, there’s going to be frustrations,” he says. “I was there since I was 11. I wanted to live that dream. I wanted to play for Leeds. I wanted to be part of that journey, but these things happen in football. You don’t always get your way and your path’s meant to go in a different direction, but it’s turned out well. I couldn’t be happier.”

Having been overlooked for so much of last season by Farke, did Cresswell go to Toulouse, where he is under contract until 2028, to prove people wrong?

“No, I wouldn’t have said to prove people wrong,” he said. “I’d have said to prove myself right. I know I have that ability, but I just needed to prove it. I was always dying to just get that chance to prove I can play. The fact Toulouse gave me this chance to do it, I’ll be forever grateful.”

(Top photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images)

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