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Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson a breath of fresh air among England’s young egos

By on August 23, 2015

Callum Wilson’s first goal in the Football League seemed far too easy considering all that the young forward, twenty at the time, had put into it. In March 2013, Coventry City faced Colchester in a midweek League One fixture. Down 2-1, Wilson came on late in the second half and promptly took on his marker, Nigeria-born, one-time England C team international Magnus Okuonghae, down the right wing. With one step-over and scissor with his right foot and another scissor with his left, Wilson put Okuonghae off-balance to make room for a low finish into the bottom left corner to level the scoreline.

By an age when most future England stars begin establishing themselves at the top, Wilson had only made five previous appearances in the Football League at the time of that goal. His two loan spells at non-league outfits Kettering Town and Tamworth, after graduating from Coventry’s youth system, had been marred by injuries. In two-and-a-half years after signing his first professional contract with Coventry, Wilson had only managed to score two goals in twenty-three games, twenty-two of which at Kettering and Tamworth.

(Above) Callum Wilson’s first goal in the Football League, at 1:32

Only in the second half of the 2012/2013 season did Wilson establish himself as a starter for Coventry, although the goals didn’t start flowing in until the 2013/14 campaign. After scoring on the opening day of the season, Wilson went on to bag eleven in his first ten games of the campaign. By the end of the season Wilson had delivered twenty-two goals, the third biggest tally in League One and all the more impressive considering he missed two months with a shoulder injury. Wilson won the Coventry Player of the Year award and had the city of Coventry solidly behind his back in the summer of 2014.

Wilson then made a £3 million move to Championship side Bournemouth over the summer, having been supported by a club that realized it was his time to move on. The Coventry-born kid wrote a heartfelt letter of farewell to his boyhood club. “It’s every player’s dream to play for their hometown club and to score so many goals last season went beyond those dreams,” Wilson wrote.

“I have to let my head rule my heart as this is my career – but my heart will always be here in Coventry.”

In an interview with Chris Brookes of Beats and Rhymes FC, Wilson said: “When I first came here I had to sing on the pre-season tour as a newcomer. I sang R. Kelly ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ and no one really gave me any stick for it so I think it went down well!”

Bear in mind, Wilson was Bournemouth’s record signing. It’s hard to imagine that Raheem Sterling, still only twenty, had a similar introduction upon his £49 million move to Manchester City this past summer.

Wilson did just as well on his debut for the club, scoring twice in a 4-0 win over Huddersfield. Manager Eddie Howe said afterward that Wilson’s starting position wasn’t guaranteed, but his main man quickly put the kibosh on such daftness with twenty goals, becoming the Cherries’ top goalscorer in their incredible run to promotion. This past summer, it was reported that Wilson was on the radar of ten Premier League clubs as Wilson won over all of Bournemouth.

“It all feels a bit surreal at the moment,” Wilson told Football365 over the summer. “Until I’m selected for my first game in the Premier League I don’t think it will really hit home. Hopefully, I can be part of the starting line-up come the first game and can actually say I’ve played in the Premier League.”

Only two full seasons after his debut goal in the Football League, Wilson’s hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday put him on forty-nine goals and more importantly, hurled him onto the headlines of papers across England as Bournemouth scored their first four goals back in the Premier League.

”It’s been a crazy journey, a crazy eighteen months from the bottom of League One to the Premier League,” Wilson summarized. “Long may that continue.”

Now, Wilson’s fairy-tale, meteoric rise has won the hearts of all of England. Much like Charlie Austin and Jamie Vary last season, Wilson’s untraditional rise to the top flight (the forward admitted: “when I went on loan there were a few people turning their noses up and saying that my career was going downhill.”) has provided a welcome counterpoint to the egos and superstars that have become England’s current youth prodigies, West Ham United sixteen-year-old Reece Oxford the latest example; his candid interviews a breath of fresh air among the many PR machines in the league. Wilson is just another boy living his dream. Long may the trend of late-bloomers continue.

Homepage photo credit: © Copyright Chris Downer and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.