Liverpool face something of an attacking crisis in the coming weeks as Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane will be absent due to their international commitments.
The Reds will have to rely on the likes of Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino to carry their attack, while Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino will have something of a part to play.
However, while all of those players are talented in their own right, none of them are true like-for-like replacements for Salah.
Salah is a speedy right-winger who loves to cut inside and shoot on his left foot, and with all of the Reds’ remaining senior attacking options being predominantly right-footed, Liverpool may have to slightly adjust their system.
At one point, Liverpool did have a speedy left-footed right-winger who could have stepped into Salah’s position, but, perhaps unfortunately, they sold him this summer.
Of course, we’re talking about Harry Wilson.
Now, we’re not going to begin to claim that Wilson could emulate Salah’s output in the Premier League. After all, the Egyptian is arguably the best player in the world right now and Wilson is playing in the Championship, but you have to imagine that he could have been a real asset for Liverpool.
Just look at how Wilson is performing for Fulham this season. He has eight league goals and nine assists from just 21 appearances, and on Tuesday evening he contributed to a mammoth six goals as the Whites beat Reading 7-0.
Wilson scored twice and assisted a further two, while he also won the penalty for Aleksandar Mitrovic’s penalty and provided the cross from the corner that led to Kenny Tete’s goal.
Yes, it’s in the Championship, but we’ve seen so often in recent years that stars from the second-tier can go on to flourish in the top-flight, just look at reported Liverpool target Jarrod Bowen or a player who is arguably the most in-form midfielder in England right now, James Maddison.
Regardless of the opposition, you have to be a special player to contribute to six goals in one game, and while Wilson probably isn’t good enough to be a key player for Liverpool, he’s showing right now that he’d have been a very capable back-up to Salah, especially during this period.
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