Harry Wilson, is he actually underrated by LFC fans?

[Dr Nowt]

Having someone who’s more of a regular threat from free kicks and long range efforts would pose sides who just want to low block the shit out of us something extra to think about.

 

Not in a Charlie Adam ‘His set pieces are worth an extra £10M’ way, but it gives us another tool in the kit in that regard, when sides are just compressing the life out of any space in the final third.

 

Doesn’t need to be good enough to start every game to be able to provide some extra points off the bench.

[Trojan1892]

He’s been on loan for three seasons and scored 32 goals, three different clubs just learning from different managers with different styles....

He hasn’t had the luxury of having arguably the best manager in the world helping him develop on a daily basis, he’s obviously got ability and who knows under Klopp and Lijnders he could be a real assist.

[lifetime fan]

2 hours ago, Code said:

Harry Wilson has been out on loan for three years now, first two times in the Championship at Hull in 17/18, then Derby in 18/19 and now this season in the Premier League at Bournemouth.

He has delivered at every club where he has got the opportunity.

17/18: Hull 11 + (2) - 7 goals - 3 assists
18/19: Derby 40 + (3) - 16 goals - 4 assists
19/20: Bournemouth 20 + (8) - 7 goals - = assists

I wanted to look at other players from 23 years old and younger in the PL to see how Wilson has done this season in a team with goalshy strikers like Solanke etc.

Top scorers from 23 years old or younger:
1. M.Rashford 28 + ( 0 ) - 16 goals - 6 assists
2. T.Abraham 25 + (6) -14 goals - 3 assists
3. G. Jesus 18 + (13) - 12 goals - 7 assists
3. Richarlison 33 + (0) - 12 goals - 3 assists
5. M. Greenwood 9 + (19) - 9 goals - 1 assists
5. N.Maupay 27 + (7) - 9 goals - 2 assists
7. C.Pulisic 17 + (5) - 8 goals - 2 assists
8. D.Jota 25 + (6) - 7 goals - 1 assist
8. H.Wilson 20 + (8) - 7 goals - 0 assists
10. H. Barnes 22 + (11) - 6 goals - 8 assists
10. J. Maddison 29 + (2) - 6 goals - 3 assists
10. M. Mount 30 + (5) - 6 goals + 4 assists
10. T. Cantwell 27 + (7) - 6 goals - 2 assists
14. I. Sarr 19 + (6) - 5 goals - 3 assists
14. K. Iheanacho 11 + (7) 5 goals + 3 assists
14. Wesley 21 + (0) - 5 goals - 1 assist
17. P.Foden 6 + (14) - 4 goals - 2 assists
17. S.McTominay 19 + (4) - 4 goals - 1 assist
17. A.Saint-Maximin 20 + (3) - 3 goals - 4 assists
17. B.Chilwell 27 + (0) - 3 goals - 3 assists
17. D.James 26 + (7) - 3 goals + 6 assists
17. D.Luiz 25 + (8) - 3 goals - 2 assists
17. I.Diop 28 + (1) - 3 goals - 1 assist
17. M.Obafemi 7 + (11) - 3 goals - 1 assist
17. P.Neto 8 + (18) 3 goals - 3 assists
17. T. Alexander-Arnold 33 + (2) - 3 goals - 12 assists
17. Y.Tielemans 29 + (5) - 3 goals - 6 assists

(PS - yes I regretted counting down to three goals)

A lot or basically most of the players above Harry Wilson on this list are strikers or they play for top 6 clubs, what does this tell us about his potential? Is he good enough to be part of our squad next season?

My answer is yes, mostly based on his superb left foot, the fact he is a danger from distance (something I think we need to do better at), but also because he has good movement in the box and he seems to be good at being in the right place at the right time.

I have not followed him that closely, so someone could obviously hold a more accurate opinion than me. But looking at his Derby stats, where he scored more than 15 goals in a team that produced chances, on the back of a solid goalscoring season in a non goalscoring Bournemouth team makes me wonder. What if?

If we compare him to M.Mount who everyone was raving about at the start of the season, H.Wilson scored double his amount last season in the same team and outscored him this season as well in a hopeless Bournemouth team.

I would be happy to keep him if its true we are not going to spend much money this summer, we need to replace Lallana and Shaqiri after all.

Any thoughts?

Are you now working for FSG? 

[3 Stacks]

He's played centre mid for Derby, I'm pretty sure. But that's different than playing centre mid here. Klopp tried Shaqiri there a couple times and then pretty much binned him, except for playing him on the right the odd time. Wilson would have to offer significantly more physicality and workrate than Shaqiri if he wanted to play there for us. 

[Allan]

There's a player in Harry Wilson. He's certainly matured a hell of a lot since his days as an arm throwing petulant kid in our youth teams.

 

Probably the biggest step he made was when he was given the captaincy of our 23s, as that was the moment, at least for me, when Harry had to show that he was mature enough to lead, both off and on the pitch. Granted it was not senior football, but that period of him being captain definitely had a big impact on him and his progression since.

 

The suggestion that he doesn't work hard enough for a Klopp side is nonsense. He's more than capable of playing in a pressing side, be it from wide right as cover for Mo, or as an attacking central midfielder (more as a 10 than an 8).

 

I do think at this stage of his development, the wide right area would suit him best, though he'd be just fine as a number 10, if we were to swap to a 4-2-3-1 for a game, or during a game if he were to come on from the bench. 

 

If Shaqiri does leave in the upcoming window, then Harry would be a useful replacement. IMHO, of course...

[Allan]

4 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

He's played centre mid for Derby, I'm pretty sure. But that's different than playing centre mid here. Klopp tried Shaqiri there a couple times and then pretty much binned him, except for playing him on the right the odd time. Wilson would have to offer significantly more physicality and workrate than Shaqiri if he wanted to play there for us. 

Yes, he did. Lampard employed a fairly fluid system between his front 3 and the 2 midfielders that were not asked to sit in front of their back 4.

 

Often times, Harry would be in central midfield, and then 10-15 minutes later he'd be high and wide on either flank. He and Mason Mount were very good for Derby. Both linked up extremely well whenever I watched them.

[Ne Moe Imya]

Wilson does not suit our style of play at all.

 

He'd actually be a good backup for Fernandes at United, both of them take a lot of long shots and do very well with high-risk/high-reward situations.

 

For us, though, every time he blasted one from 30 yards you'd see Edwards shouting at a laptop saying "the ball to Mane in the box was on!" 

 

Plus much of the vaunted goal/assist ratio from Code's post is from set pieces. Not that set pieces are worthless - on the contrary, they are hugely valuable. It's just that we already have some really good set piece takers who do really well with them so Wilson wouldn't be adding much that we don't already get. And the open-play part of his game is based on long shots and high-risk passes, which doesn't suit a team with the best front 3 in the world up front. Better to just have Wijnaldum get the ball, keep it, and rotate it to Trent or Andy who can then find one of the front three in a dangerous position, since that's what our attack is based on.

[El Dangerous]

Give him a season as back up, try him as an attacking midfielder and give him a go as a forward. See if he can adapt. People who are writing him off as the wrong type of player probably binned off Henderson as soon as it was apparent he’d never be in Stevie’s league. We have the best coach and man manager in the game, if there’s a player good enough to play for Liverpool there he’ll find him.

 

Also we’ll get fuck all for him this year, his price will only go up and we have no money to replace the squad players leaving.

[Kevin D]

Wish he'd fuck off.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

8 hours ago, Ne Moe Imya said:

 

He'd actually be a good backup for Fernandes at United

Can't see him being welcome there, somehow. 

 

[Code]