Championship giants West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest turned down Bournemouth’s Premier League talisman Callum Wilson.
Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson has admitted that he was rejected by Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion before eventually establishing himself on the South Coast instead, speaking to Saturday Social on Sky Sports (7 March, 10am).
A late-blooming centre-forward is now one of the Premier League’s most highly-rated goalscorers, and an England international to boot, at the age of 28.
Quick, strong and a lethal finisher, Wilson netted 14 times in the top-flight last season and has another eight to his name for an underperforming Bournemouth side in 2019/20.
And, if they could turn back the clock, you would imagine that West Brom and Nottingham Forest might not have been so quick to turn their nose up at a number nine now valued in the region of £50 million.
“I went on trial at a lot of different places. I went on trial at Forest – they said I wasn’t good enough. I went on trial at West Brom – they said I wasn’t good enough,” Wilson admitted before he was snapped up by Coventry City instead.
Wilson quickly rose through the ranks at the Sky Blues, netting 21 times in a breakthrough 2013/14 campaign before swapping the Midlands for the The Cherries.
Fortunately for two of the Championship’s biggest clubs, West Brom and Forest look well placed to secure a place in the top six with just nine games remaining in a gruelling campaign – even if they both dropped points during a disappointing weekend.
But every club has their own ‘one-that-got-away’ – see Burnley and Michael Essien, Arsenal and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And Wilson’s brutal admission will have even the most optimistic Baggies and Forest fans wondering what might have been.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
