When Callum Wilson drives home after scoring for Newcastle his kids sing him a terrace chant that’s been revived at St James’ Park
“Oh, Callum Wilson, ooh, ahh, I wanna know, can you score a goal…” The answer has been yes. Six goals in nine starts. “Plus two assists” he quickly adds. It was a favourite when Alan Shearer was banging in 206 goals for Newcastle, and 30 for England.
Now he wants to emulate the former No9 on the pitch, helping the Three Lions at the World Cup and keeping Newcastle among the elite. Wilson has sent a message to Gareth Southgate with his goals this season, and has also made a fitness declaration to soothe any worries about his injury record.
“I’m nice and robust now…” He has helped United to fourth place in the Premier League, mixing it with the elite, and is fully focused on Eddie Howe’s side. But he is also driven to achieve a “childhood dream” to play at a World Cup.
Harry Kane will lead the line in Qatar, but needs a deputy with Wilson rivalling Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Tammy Abraham and Ollie Watkins for the call. Other attacking players likely to go are Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish.
Given 30 seconds to say why he should go to Qatar, Wilson replied: “We have unbelievable talent in the forward positions. All you can do is put your name forward with performances like last weekend.
"It helps when the manager comes to watch you in person. It’s not just the goals you see in the headlines - it’s the assists, hold-up play, movement. He gets to see that in the flesh. It was time for me to talk on the pitch. If the performances are there then you’ll be selected. If not, then you won’t. That’s all I can do.”
Wilson, 30, has four caps, scoring once against the USA four years ago. Southgate saw him score twice against Aston Villa last weekend when he blew a kiss to the crowd after his goals. Was it to Gareth? "He wishes! My family was there. The kids were there. Little moments like that are special, they’ll remember them when they grow up.”
He added: “When I was at Bournemouth I made my England debut and me and the manager (Eddie Howe) spoke about it. He said to me back then, “You won’t realise what you have done until you retire, scoring on your debut”.
"It is on my mind, for sure. I need to do my talking on the pitch. I would love to play for England again. I’ve scored. That’s all I can do. It improves my chances. After that, it’s down to the England manager.
It may count against Wilson, who is in Southgate’s 55-man preliminary squad, that he’s not been involved recently, and his injury record, including a layoff in September. But few are in better form and on such a high.
Wilson said: “It was very frustrating. The timing wasn’t ideal. I had a set amount of fixtures to impress. I haven’t been in the England set-up for a few years now and I was going to have to do more on the pitch than others who have been in the squad. I had limited time.
"So, when you know you’re going to miss a few games, you have to hit the ground running as soon as you come back. No corners were cut with my rehab. I knew, this time, I had to be sure. I had to find form straight away. I scored on my return and haven’t looked back.”
Wilson is in the spotlight because of Newcastle’s brilliant form including five wins in six games and the meanest defence in the league. He added: “The guys at the back have been unbelievable. Another clean sheet on Saturday. That goes under the radar when you score four goals.
"I can’t score a goal unless the ball comes to me. We are very appreciative of each other. Our second goal, we worked on it on the training field, so it was even sweeter. You could see in the celebration, when something comes to fruition, how much it means.”
How high can Newcastle go this season? “Who knows? All we can try to be is consistent. We need to hit the ground running again after the World Cup. I’ll let you guys do the talking on our chances of the top four.
"We just need to beat whoever is in front of us. We’re playing with confidence and free-flowing football. But we also need to keep our feet on the ground.”
More singing in the car? “My kids sing (the chant) to me in the car. We’ll sing it on the way home! I heard it as a kid, and it was also Alan Shearer’s song. It’s so nice to hear it with my name in. I just love my football here.”
