Germans already striking firm bond with Town

Namely that the ultra-competitive division is one of the most intense, compelling and strongest in Europe and the Huddersfield Town striker’s excitement ahead of his maiden foray in the competition and in England is genuine.

Kachunga, who has joined Town on a season-long loan from 2015-16 Bundesliga surprise packages FC Ingostadt, professes to be a fan of English football – citing Chelsea icon Didier Drogba as a particular favourite when he was growing up watching the beautiful game.

While Kachunga’s knowledge of the Championship is limited, as opposed to the Premier League, a quick scan of Huddersfield’s mouth-watering early fixtures has certainly sated the appetite of the 24-year-old.

Back-to-back August away games at famous stadiums in St James’ Park and Villa Park against the relegated duo of Newcastle United and Aston Villa have been duly noted by Kachunga, with an early season derby against Leeds United also adding further piquancy in an unforgiving division which is probably the most exacting in Europe, pound for pound, Euro for Euro.

The games are ones to be seized upon with relish, according to Kachunga, with trepidation simply not coming into the equation.

You sense these are the sort of games behind why he elected to come to West Yorkshire.

Former Germany Under-21 forward Kachunga said: “We see we have a tough start against big teams. But I think it is good when you play the first games against hard and big teams as you can see where you stand.

“It is very exciting. There are a lot of big teams in this league and the Championship is better than the second league or much of the first leagues in other countries and this is good for me to play at this high level.

“I have seen a lot of Premier League games and there are a lot of good teams who play very fast and strong and I like it. In Germany, we cannot see the Championship but I know it is a strong league.

“The fans are near to the pitch and it is good to feel that excitement from them and have them support you.”

Kachunga, born in the town of Haan – close to Dusseldorf in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region – had spells at Borussia Mönchengladbach, VfL Osnabrück, Hertha BSC and SC Paderborn 07 before linking up with Ingolstadt last summer.

While England represents a fresh chapter in his career and uncharted territory, his attributes of pace and predatory goal-scoring prowess look well served for Championship football – with Town supporters understandably putting plenty of stock in him forming a telling partnership at the top end of the pitch with last season’s top-scorer, Nahki Wells.

Kachunga believes he has seen enough already to come to the conclusion that they can successfully play together up front, if head coach David Wagner elects to pair them together.

He said: “Nakhi is a good guy and player and I think we can play together and we will see what the coach has in his mind.

“Last season, he had a very good season and scored a lot of goals and I hope he can this year.

“But we are a team and it’s not important who scores the goal because when one man is scoring the goals, the team is winning and it is good for all the team-mates.

“I hope we have a lot of chances, so I can score and a lot of other players can score.”

On what sort of player Town are getting, Kachunga added: “It is hard for me to say what kind of player I am.

“But I am fast and over the next weeks and months, people can see how I play. I am a striker who can also play on the right or left wing and it will be where the coach sees me (to play).”

Kachunga and German compatriots and fellow Town recruits Chris Schindler, Chris Low and Michael Hefele are now part of the way through a first pre-season with their new club in a new country and the early vibes are good in terms of the overall acclimatisation programme.

A ‘bonding’ stint on a remote island in Sweden where players had to fend for themselves and work as a team to problem-solve enabled them to find out plenty about each other and helped ingrain the newcomers into the team fabric – albeit in a somewhat unconventional way.

Kachunga added: “We had good days in Sweden and I can learn a lot from my new team-mates and it was good for the new players to get to know each other.

“We made fire and food together and it made us feel more together. It was very good, but four times was enough!

“The squad is very strong and we have a lot of young players and we will hard to get stronger and I think we can have a good season.”

On his decision to join Town and chance his arm in England, he continued: “I had good conversations with the coach and he said a lot of good things about this club to me.

“This club is not the biggest, but a club with good ambition and I am here to help the club come up.

“He (Wagner) is a coach with a good mentality and he says good things to the young players and wants them to get better and that is the best thing for the players.

“It is a challenge for me in a new land and league and I hope I can help the club be better and score a lot of goals here.”