Liverpool star Harry Wilson fell short of Cardiff City fans'

Liverpool star Harry Wilson fell short of Cardiff City fans' unattainable expectations despite flashes of brilliance


But he will certainly be missed next season, but probably not quite as much as we would have all hoped.



By Scott Johnson

Monday 26th April 2021


Cardiff recently announced the shortlist for their Player of the Season award and one name in particular was conspicuous by his absence.

I mean, Kieffer Moore will win and deservedly so, everyone knows that, but the other contenders were Joe Bennett, Sean Morrison, Will Vaulks, Curtis Nelson and Perry Ng.

There was no sign of Harry Wilson.



Undoubtedly Cardiff’s most talented player, Wilson was brought in to be Cardiff’s white knight this season and in the end, he proved to instead be a knight like any other. That may appear harsh for a player that has recorded four goals and 12 assists, but expectations were sky high and that was largely based upon Wilson’s reputation and previous achievements.

This season looks set to be a career low for Wilson in terms of goals. Last season he netted seven for Bournemouth in the Premier League, a total matched in his breakthrough season at Hull in the second tier. The outlier is his 2018/19 season at Derby, where he notched up 16 league goals under the tutelage of Frank Lampard and helped drive Derby to the play-off final. That is the Wilson Cardiff were banking on.

That year, Wilson played in tandem with Mason Mount and proved more influential than the Chelsea prodigy. Since then, Mount has established himself for both Chelsea and England, while Wilson’s career appears to have reached something of a crossroads.

Wilson was being linked with £20m moves last summer, but there were no takers and he ended up dropping down a level in order to play regularly ahead of this summer’s European Championships. All of these factors served to elevate expectations and they have not been met.

Is that Wilson’s fault, though? Well, its been a strange old season.




Signed by Neil Harris, Wilson started out on the right wing, a position that he has often played in the past. Almost immediately, the accusation was that the role hampered his influence and that he would be better utilised centrally. Eventually he was tried in the middle and his contribution largely continued in the same vein.

Under McCarthy, whom he initially had to win over, he tends to play in a pair behind Moore, so three different roles under two different managers, which surely hasn’t helped, but the outcome in each has been broadly similar and the question of Wilson’s ideal role appears to have followed him throughout his fledgling career.

Sometimes it feels like Wilson is on a different wavelength to his team-mates and it is often wondered whether he is too good for this Cardiff side. Would he thrive in a more technically gifted, forward-thinking unit? It’s a fair question, but very good players are capable of elevating the whole and those around him. They make them look better than they actually are.

The reason that Moore has been such a revelation is firstly because of the 20 goals he has plundered, but also because of his consistency and graft. Cardiff strikers tend to fail because you have to be able to put in the hard yards AND be clinical in front of goal. It is a combination that is beyond most, but Moore has embraced the challenge and thrived.

Wilson has elevated those around him, but only in flashes. At times, he has instead made the straightforward look more complicated with poor decision making, which is an aspect no one was expecting. It adds to the frustration because you’re well aware of Wilson’s capabilities and potential ceiling.

When you speak to fans of the other clubs that he has played at, they tend to say the same thing, which is that Wilson is a player of moments. His influence is rarely sustained, but the talent is undoubted.

Cardiff fans of a certain vintage will remember how influential Jason Koumas was in his first season on loan at Cardiff. Another Liverpool academy graduate, he was the same sort of languid, maverick talent, but he became so influential at Cardiff they had no option but to temporarily build the whole side around him.

The fans who witnessed Koumas in full flow still coo at any mention of him and the expectation was that we would be doing the same with Wilson, but he never really threatened those albeit stratospheric heights.

Cardiff have been bettered by sides with players like Emi Buendia at Norwich and Arnaut Danjuma at Bournemouth, talent in the same price bracket as Wilson who have scored as many goals as they have assisted. Wilson was recently named as the 28th best player in the Football League by FourFourTwo magazine and your immediate reaction is that he should be far higher, yet he’s not even in his own club’s top six for the season.

Wilson, like Mount, will head to the Euros in the summer and both will probably have a significant role to play for their country. The difference is that Mount, two years Wilson’s junior, will be looking to establish himself as one of the best young players in Europe and Wilson will be looking to finally win over Liverpool and try to secure a new deal.




It may be unfair to compare Wilson to a generational talent like Mount, but they were once regarded as equals and have since headed off on very different, contrasting paths. I’m desperate for Wilson to thrive for both club and country and become the player we all hoped he would be, but maybe our collective expectations are the problem here.

We should all appreciate Wilson for what he is, rather than what he isn’t. He wasn’t able to drag Cardiff back to the Premier League, but that probably says a lot more about Cardiff than it does about Wilson.

He will certainly be missed next season, but probably not quite as much as we would have all hoped.

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A big disappointment for me - partly because of the way we play I’m sure.

I mean he’s done quite well and I would have liked him here next season but I expected a lot more from him.

Good luck to him and hope he can find the right club where he can flourish and improve.

I’m not saying Wilson should win it but if City fans think that he shouldn’t be on the shortlist after all the assists he contributed then they have a very strange view on football !!

To make it worse Nelson is in there and he’s been hot and cold all season.

Then to make matters worse Perry Ng is in there too after playing just 17 games !! Good signing he might be but player of the season !!??

For me Moore, Morrison and Wilson have been, by far, our most effective players with Vaulks also with a mention simply because he leaves nothing in the tank.

All about opinions I suppose but just can’t fathom the Wilson omission.

I’m not saying Wilson should win it but if City fans think that he shouldn’t be on the shortlist after all the assists he contributed then they have a very strange view on football !!

To make it worse Nelson is in there and he’s been hot and cold all season.

Then to make matters worse Perry Ng is in there too after playing just 17 games !! Good signing he might be but player of the season !!??

For me Moore, Morrison and Wilson have been, by far, our most effective players with Vaulks also with a mention simply because he leaves nothing in the tank.

All about opinions I suppose but just can’t fathom the Wilson omission.

i agree with your 3...Moore , Wilson and Mozza..

I’m not saying Wilson should win it but if City fans think that he shouldn’t be on the shortlist after all the assists he contributed then they have a very strange view on football !!

To make it worse Nelson is in there and he’s been hot and cold all season.

Then to make matters worse Perry Ng is in there too after playing just 17 games !! Good signing he might be but player of the season !!??

For me Moore, Morrison and Wilson have been, by far, our most effective players with Vaulks also with a mention simply because he leaves nothing in the tank.

All about opinions I suppose but just can’t fathom the Wilson omission.

i agree with your 3...Moore , Wilson and Mozza..

What did you expect with such a one paced average midfield.He came to the wrong club I'm sorry to say.It takes more than one player to make a team,

I’m not saying Wilson should win it but if City fans think that he shouldn’t be on the shortlist after all the assists he contributed then they have a very strange view on football !!

To make it worse Nelson is in there and he’s been hot and cold all season.

Then to make matters worse Perry Ng is in there too after playing just 17 games !! Good signing he might be but player of the season !!??

For me Moore, Morrison and Wilson have been, by far, our most effective players with Vaulks also with a mention simply because he leaves nothing in the tank.

All about opinions I suppose but just can’t fathom the Wilson omission.

i agree with your 3...Moore , Wilson and Mozza..

What did you expect with such a one paced average midfield.He came to the wrong club I'm sorry to say.It takes more than one player to make a team,

so you agree as well

Really disappointed with Wilson, average player tbh for us this season, expected much more ,seems to go missing and his free kicks have been shite

Let’s be honest, Messi and Ronaldo would look bang average with the style we play....

Said it year in year out, Malky started embedding defensive midfield set up with Whitt’s as a sweeper and we have lacked flair and quality in midfield since... that’s the issue for me. Target for summer good creative midfielders x 2 and 2nd striker

With the squad DJ had Wilson would have been awesome with us.

Let’s be honest, Messi and Ronaldo would look bang average with the style we play....

Said it year in year out, Malky started embedding defensive midfield set up with Whitt’s as a sweeper and we have lacked flair and quality in midfield since... that’s the issue for me. Target for summer good creative midfielders x 2 and 2nd striker

Bang on

Malky's game plan was to hide Whitt's weaknesses with 3 or 4 combative midfielders and let him control the pace of the game. But he was an elite passer, his long balls were passes, Ben Turners were overhit hit and hopes.

Harry Wilson is a front foot scrum half, he is a wizard in front of a decent pack but bang average on the back foot. I think the only one on his wavelength is Josh who is wildly inconsistent and rarely starts.

Lifting up a shit team is a different skill set to enhancing a decent team. We can all see he is a decent player but when your attacking midfield partner is Bacuna or Ralls what chance do you stand.
Tomlin has freakish dribbling talent, a strong lad, and an elite passer. His highlight reel is amazing because in a couple of seconds he can turn a game. Wilson hasn't really had those moments as he is a team player and often a right back with the amount of defensive stuff he does.

I do believe that in his most productive years he will be a central midfielder rather than an out and out forward.

He was the most talented player in our very defensive midfield. He always pressed up on the oppositions defence, defending from the front. I would keep him and get rid of the others, then add Colwill to the team and buy or get on loan 2 good midfielders.
Won't happen because we cant afford Wilson.
Pack, Bacuna and Ralls can go.

Good luck to any ball playing offensive midfielder playing with any combination of Ralls, Pack, Vaulks and Bacuna. Whilst Morrison a top defender, our three centre half's behind are barely capable, even if not under managers instructions, to play a decent 20 yard pass on the deck into a midfielders feet either. Its no accident Whitts made hay with McPhail alongside him.