For Harry Wilson in recent weeks the venue may have varied but the end result has largely been the same. On Tuesday the scene was Cardiff City Stadium, Wilson scoring his fourth goal in his past five Wales matches, a typically flush left-foot finish. Then there was his off-the-cuff stoppage-time double to earn Fulham a derby victory over Brentford at Craven Cottage this month, the first an audacious backheel flick, in front of the watching Wales manager, Craig Bellamy. By the time Wilson got to sleep in Surrey, it was the early hours of the following morning. “I had the game recorded so I got home and watched it back a few times,” he says, smiling. “That feeling when it looped in was amazing.”
The Fulham manager, Marco Silva, had used the final words of his dressing-room debrief to praise Wilson’s patience and attitude, aware he is yet to start a Premier League game this season. Then his teammates made a din and beckoned Wilson to make a speech.
“Yeah, that wasn’t happening,” he says, laughing. “When you feel like you’re training well and it gets to a Thursday or a Friday when the team is confirmed and you’re not in it again, it can be a bit disheartening but you cannot let it get you down because if you’re still in that mindset come game time then when you’re called upon you’re not going to be in the right frame of mind to make an impact. The last couple of weeks have given me a case to be asking the manager: ‘Is it my time to start now?’”
Wilson has been central to Bellamy’s Wales revolution, starting all six Nations League matches, from which they emerged unbeaten. Bellamy’s final game for Wales was Wilson’s first, when a 16-year-old Wilson became the country’s youngest player in Brussels in 2013 and earned his grandad a few quid. Bellamy believes the attacking midfielder has a similar streetwise streak to his former teammates Luis Suárez and Carlos Tevez, and also described Wilson as “the footballer’s footballer”.
Wilson has equally been impressed with Bellamy and his staff, namechecking Piet Cremers, formerly Pep Guardiola’s head of analysis at Manchester City, and Andrew Crofts, who has worked alongside Roberto De Zerbi and Fabian Hürzeler at Brighton. “They are all as passionate as each other,” Wilson says. “As players we love that and it filters down to us.”
Bellamy has re-energised a Wales team playing with freedom and an endearing fearlessness. The broad message from the manager, Wilson says, helps. “‘When you’re in attacking areas, do what you want, pretty much.’ He says he’ll coach us in the buildup but when you get into that final third, he can’t tell us what to do, so he wants us to go and express ourselves. If you lose the ball, he’s not too bothered, just like: ‘Get it, get it, get it, get it again.’ Keep creating chances. Especially for me, and I think if you asked any attacking player in the squad, that gives you confidence that if you do make a mistake or the final pass doesn’t come off, the next time you get it you feel you’re able to do it again.”
Wilson, who won his 60th cap in midweek, is thriving on Bellamy’s trust. At 27 he is a senior player. Wilson has been at the forefront of this Wales team for a while, though he says it is crazy it is 11 years since his lie-in in his Liverpool academy digs, in Eccleston near the club’s training ground, was interrupted by Ian Rush informing him of his first call-up.
“That will always stick with me. With Bale retiring last year I definitely feel that extra responsibility because he brought so many goals, assists and creation to our game. As one of the attacking players in this team now, I feel like it is up to me to provide and score and create those goals. Now, being one of the older ones on the pitch, when we step out I feel an extra sense of responsibility.”
Wilson is a man in form. He also scored in Fulham’s final game before this international break, sealing another London derby win, over Crystal Palace. “I always tend to watch games back [when I get home] because there are certain moments where I want to see if I made the right decision or if I could have done something better. But if I score, I watch the goal back a couple of times, enjoy it, and then it is about getting ready for the next one to try to do it all over again. When things don’t go your way or you lose, it’s natural to be disappointed and down. To have that feeling of elation after winning and scoring, you really have to cherish those moments. I enjoy those moments because it shows all the hard work I’ve been putting in at training has paid off.”
Wilson’s frustrations have been eased by his son, Oscar, who is almost two. “Whether you’ve had a good day or a bad day, he always greets you the same, with a big smile, a big cuddle. He’s carnage at the minute … he’s into his tractors and football. I was worried that he wasn’t interested in football; when he first started walking I rolled him the ball but he was always trying to pick it up and throw it, so I was thinking: ‘Oh no.’ But in the last two or three months he has started to kick it – and he has been using his left foot, so I’m happy about that.”
Fulham are flying, seventh under Silva having lost only twice since the opening day. “We feel with the squad we have got that we can do great things this season,” says Wilson, who keeps an eye on the progress of ambitious Wrexham, his hometown club hunting a third straight promotion. “I used to go to pretty much every home game with my uncle and my cousin when I was growing up. When Wrexham dropped out of the Football League [in 2008], I think the town took a hit as well, so now to have that renewed interest and funding, it’s not just the football team that is on the up but it’s the town as well and it’s great to see being a local lad. The takeover has been huge for the community as a whole.”
Wilson hopes that post-match thrill is alive and kicking after Fulham entertain Wolves on Saturday, when victory could leave them third. “A lot of the boys struggle to sleep after night games, and I’m one of those. With the adrenaline, buzz and the caffeine you’ve taken to get you through, all of that can still be in your system gone 1am, 2am. The next day you’re never in until midday or often off, so if you get to bed late you can always have that lie-in … unless your little one is jumping on you at half seven in the morning.”
