Harry Wilson has told Goal he began to accept he would have to leave Liverpool in 2019 when Jurgen Klopp overlooked him for the Community Shield after a strong pre-season.
Wilson completed a permanent move away from Anfield this July, joining Fulham for £12m ahead of their Championship return. The deal features a 15% sell-on, but marked the end of a near-16-year association with the Reds for the Welshman developed in their academy.
Yet the 29-cap international only made two senior appearances between loans with Crewe Alexandra, Hull, Derby, Bournemouth and Cardiff. And it was after his Rams stay that the 24-year-old began to realise the writing was on the Anfield walls over his Liverpool future.
“I’d been thinking that [leaving Liverpool] for a couple of years,” Wilson said. “I wouldn’t say it was an easy thing to do, but it is definitely the right thing for me. I know I’ve made the right decision. It was in 2019, when I came back from Derby [that I first considered going].
“I’d had a really good season in the Championship. We fell at the last hurdle in the play-off final, but my numbers were good [and] my performances were good. That pre-season at Liverpool, we played a few games in England and then went out to America and France. I played pretty much every game, scored a few goals and felt like I was in a good position.
“Then we played Manchester City in the Community Shield and I was [the] 19th-man. The disappointment of that really hit me. I felt that was my chance and it had gone. I thought I’d done all I could, and I think that was when I started to accept that I’d have to leave.”
Fulham banking on Wilson fulfilling his disrupted Liverpool potential
Fulham will be banking on Wilson fulfilling his disrupted Liverpool potential and becoming more than a Championship star. The Wrexham-born winger lit up the second-tier with Derby under Frank Lampard, scoring 16 goals and providing four assists.
Wilson then displayed promise in Liverpool’s pre-season, but Klopp seemingly did not see enough progress. He then joined Bournemouth and scored seven Premier League goals only to return to the Championship with Cardiff. This time, netting seven and assisting 12.
The forward’s Fulham career started promisingly on Sunday with the opening goal on his league debut in a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough. The Cottagers will hope that is a sign of what’s to come as they seek an immediate top-flight return. Where Wilson truly needs to be to show Klopp what he and Liverpool passed up on by selling this summer.
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