Klopp texted me to say he loved my goal at United!
...BUT I HUNG UP ON MY DERBY BOSS LAMPARD, SAYS HARRY WILSON
HOW do you hang up on your new boss? The question caused Harry Wilson mild panic as the phone in his car began to ring.
Waiting on the other end was Frank Lampard. Wilson knew the importance of this call and was desperate to answer, but the last thing he needed was crackles on the line and here was the dilemma: how did he tell a childhood idol this was not the right time?
‘I was a bit nervous, like!’ says Wilson, smiling as he tells the story. ‘I thought to myself, “I need to speak to him properly”. I answered and the first thing he says to me is, “Are you driving?” I told him I’d be home in five minutes and asked would he mind if I gave him a call back.
‘He was absolutely fine. When I got in, I rang him straight away and he told me he’d watched me at Hull last season and liked what he saw. He said he had spoken to a few people about me and he’d love me to come to Derby. That made my mind up.’
Phones are a recurring theme through the course of our conversation at Derby’s training ground. Wilson will go on to reveal Jurgen Klopp is on speed dial and tell a tale about a life-changing call from Liverpool legend Ian Rush, but first back to Lampard. Wilson, a creative midfielder with a wonder- ful left foot, fell into the ‘ most wanted’ category last summer. He signed a new long-term deal at Anfield in July but the intention, to accelerate his development, was always to loan him out. Many Championship clubs enquired, as did Celtic.
Derby was deemed to be the perfect next stop and the 21-year-old Welshman has become a key figure in their quest for promotion. There have been 12 goals, many crashed in from outside the area, two assists and he has gained a reputation as a free-kick specialist.
He spends 15 minutes most days honing his technique and if you want to see how practice makes perfect, watch the shot he fizzed in from 25 yards against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup tie in September, or the curled freekick at Southampton in the FA Cup third-round replay.
‘I didn’t realise the goal at United was as good as it was because I went off celebrating,’ Wilson says. ‘It wasn’t until I was on the bus on the way back here that I watched it on Twitter and saw the movement that I had got on it. With it being at Old Trafford made it even more special.’
If it endeared him to Derby fans and Lampard, it was equally well received on Merseyside as he raced off with five fingers raised to represent the club’s five European Cups; it did not escape the attention of Klopp. ‘He dropped me a text to tell me he’d watched it and he was delighted with the performance — and the goal!’ says Wilson.
‘A couple of weeks ago there was another message saying, “Good result, good goal — keep going”. When you get those texts, it is a massive boost. You know you aren’t forgotten.’
On current form, there is not much chance of that. He will be at the heart of Derby’s attempt to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals at Brighton tomorrow and Wilson can expect to be at the heart of the Wales squad for the foreseeable future, too, having resumed his unconventional international career.
In October 2013, he became Wales’s youngest player when he came on in a 1-1 draw with Belgium. He was 16 years and 207 days, and those three minutes in Brussels earned his grandfather Peter £125,000 after he placed a £50 bet when Wilson was 18 months old that he would represent his country.
So there he was, not long out of school, rubbing shoulders with Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Jan Vertonghen. The episode was unforgettable but it came too soon and led to a five-year hiatus.
‘That was a surreal experience,’ he says. ‘It all started when I was in my digs in Liverpool. I was just lying on my bed, watching TV. I had a phone call and it was an unknown number. I don’t usually answer them but something told me to answer it, so I answered it and it was Ian Rush!
‘I’m thinking, “What do I call him? Do I call him Ian? Do I call him Rushy?” I didn’t really know. Next thing he told me Chris Coleman wanted me to go and train with the Wales squad down in Cardiff and they were sending a car for me. I couldn’t believe it.
‘I ended up on the bench against Macedonia and again for the Belgium game, which was a dead rubber because they had qualified for the World Cup. With 10 minutes to go, Chris said, “Get ready, you’re going on”.
‘It was all a bit crazy, a bit of a blur. I just wanted to get a touch and work hard. We had been losing 1-0 but we drew 1-1, so I’ll take a bit of credit for that!’ He asked Hazard to swap shirts but his had already gone. De Bruyne, then of Chelsea, came over and shook hands. Much to his amazement, the request to exchange came from the Belgian.
‘I couldn’t believe it,’ he says. ‘But I thought, “It’s my debut shirt — I can’t give you this”. I ended up not having anyone’s shirt.’
That is framed and hangs proudly at the family home in Denbighshire. His current base is in Derby, where he lives with another loanee, Chelsea’s Mason Mount.
Yet for all the praise the pair have received, one question remains: can they make it at their parent clubs? ‘The main focus this season is to get promoted with Derby,’ says Wilson.
‘But Mason’s goal is to play for Chelsea and my goal is to play for Liverpool. I have always felt like a Liverpool player. Everything is going along the right path.’