McInnes happy he was stuck with loan star Wilson
A PHONE call from Derek McInnes to Manchester United two days after his Aberdeen side had beaten Celtic at Parkhead in the final fixture of last season started the ball rolling on the aim to persuade the Old Trafford outfit to part with one of their young stars for a year.
The Dons may have finished the last Premiership campaign in second spot for the fourth successive season, but they were still short in front of goal and in Wilson, McInnes saw someone who could end such paucity.
The 22-year-old former England under-21 striker certainly showed what he is capable of with his thundering 25-yard goal in the 3-0 demolition of Hamilton at Pittodrie on Wednesday night and both he and his manager hope he can similarly damage Kilmarnock when the teams meet at Rugby Park on Sunday.
“He’s here for a reason,” McInnes said. “We don’t get them at the top of their game but we’re trying to rebuild that confidence and get some flow into his game and a run without injuries.
“After we’d won the game at Celtic Park last season my first phone call to Manchester United was the Monday after it.
“We’d a few bids in for strikers and United weren’t in a rush to jump, with the difference in salaries. But we’d hit a wall with getting the strikers in we wanted.
“We’d asked to be kept informed with James’ situation and his agent did that and thought it was a good idea from the get-go.
“There were other clubs interested but thankfully, the way it played out, we didn’t get the permanent strikers we were after and the loan deal became do-able.”