Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson has set himself the target of making England ’s 2022 FIFA World Cup squad in November and believes he has an outside chance if he starts next season "on fire ".
The 30-year-old has admitted that he is an "underdog" when it comes to being selected for his national side but is targeting a strong return once he makes a full recovery from his current injury.
And speaking to the Footballer’s Football Podcast, Wilson is confident he can force his way into Gareth Southgate ’s plans later this year if he can score at least 10 goals before November.
He said: "The months leading up to the World Cup, you hope everyone stays fit because I'm sure Southgate at the moment probably knows most of his squad. But saying that, if players start the season on fire and are flying come World Cup selection, there's going to have to be some underdogs who get called up.
"For me, any player who is English is going to want to try and break into that squad. As soon as I'm fit, that's something that's on my agenda for the new season.
"As a striker, if come November when the tournament is due to start, if you are on 10 goals, you can't tell me you don't then get selected into the squad. That's not talking about myself, you're talking [Patrick] Bamford, Danny Ings, [Ollie] Watkins, [Dominic] Calvert-Lewin, [Tammy] Abraham, myself.”
Is Callum Wilson good enough to get into Gareth Southgate's England squad at the end of the year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Wilson has been Newcastle ’s main striker since sealing a reported £20million move from Bournemouth in September 2020, finishing as the club’s top scorer with 12 goals in his debut season, before notching a further six in 15 appearances this campaign ahead of the injury he suffered in December.
And he also has four Three Lions caps to his name, following his international debut in a friendly against the USA in November 2018, a game in which he scored in, but he has no intentions of letting that number stop there once he returns from injury.
Harry Kane is undeniably Southgate’s first choice striker, but Wilson will be battling with a number of other names to become the reliable back-up should they be called upon, and claims that without ambition, he won’t stand a chance.
He said: "There's a lot of players besides Kane that are trying to go for that other striking place. I guess whoever starts the season on fire is going to have the best opportunity of getting that.
"If you're not ambitious, you wouldn't get to the situation you are in or have played for England before. You have to have that hunger and desire to want to keep succeeding."
Eddie Howe recently gave an update on the status of Wilson’s calf injury and admitted that games could be running out for the 30-year-old to make a comeback before the end of the season, although he hopes that won’t be the case.
