The forgotten striker is moving on:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...-James-Wilson-10-youngsters-leave-summer.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...-James-Wilson-10-youngsters-leave-summer.html
James Wilson Leaving | Signs for Salford City FC
- Thread starter Cockney Phil
- Start date
Pour one out
What a way to start the next season too (45 sec in)
What a way to start the next season too (45 sec in)
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He was on the level of Ravel and Pogba in the reserves. If he couldn't make it then I doubt whether anyone else can. We get all these talented youngsters and can't prepare/coach them for shit. TFM, Gribbin and Poole had great reputations. Yet none of them are likely to make it. Let's see what Gomez, Chong and Greenwood do or rather what our coaching staff does with them.
If Greenwood doesn’t make it we might as well just fold the academy
By all accounts Wilson downed tools once he'd made the breakthrough. He's had a lot of injuries too.
It was a mistake to give him such a big contract so soon too. The cases of CBJ, Wilson and Januzaj led to a cap in salary for young players at United.
I disagree. His stats were very good but if you watched the games then his overall play, except his finishing, was very average.
All the best luck to the kid. I was thrilled when he scored and though he would have a career here. I remember some comments from the reserves coach putting him in the same sentence with Januzaj if I'm not wrong. It didn't help probably.
I remember a City game in which he scored a Hattrick that Van Persie would be proud of. There were also many other games that season, him against a whole defence and he scored. He had pace and great finishing already. His dribbling was decent. His holdup play probably wasn't great as I never saw it. But he just fell off a cliff after his debut. This is a pattern at the club. Even outside players when they come here they stop trying to improve. This doesn't happen at even the Spanish big two which would be the definition of "made it" for most pros.
Shame, thought he'd make it as a squad player here
You just don't know what's going to happen when it's time to make that step up, irrespective of talent.
Shame it didn't work out. I have no idea how his loan spells have been going but I hope he still carves a good career out for himself.
Shame it didn't work out. I have no idea how his loan spells have been going but I hope he still carves a good career out for himself.
You need more than pace and finishing. Even Macheda scored a hat trick, or 4 goals vs Newcastle in the U21s.
Brain, first touch, technique are what we should be looking at in any young player. Wilson never had them at a high standard imo.
There's a name I've not heard for a while. Surprised he was still at Man United at 23.
Warren Joyce said it best a couple of years ago:
Likely to have been on decent wages so he would have been content to just run his contract down rather than moving for lower wages.
One of my best friends is a Aberdeen fan and he was apparently sh*te the majority of the season for them.
I was just about to post something to this effect. I like Rangers and my brother is a Celtic fan so plenty of football up here gets watched between the family, and anytime I caught Aberdeen this season and Wilson was playing I thought he was dreadful.
Injuries probably haven't helped but he just wasn't very good.
He was pretty bad for Aberdeen until the last month where he probably realized he had to work to get a good contract somewhere so he scored and assisted a couple of goals. Shame, but yeah. I feel like he walked the same road as Januzaj. So much ability, so comfortable. Injuries didn't help obviously. I don't buy that his overall play wasn't that good. It was. Yes, he wasn't the striker to hold up play very well but so wasn't Michael Owen. His touch, speed, finishing were deadly. Always a thought with his first touch.
This points to a bigger problem at the club then. As players like Martial, Memphis and even Shaw at first stopped trying when they "made it". This does not happen at other big clubs like Bayern, Liverpool (TAA, Robertson, Gomez, Mane) or the Spanish big two and is something I expect Ole to solve. I can't even imagine what would be required to bring a culture change like that considering the salaries we offer mediocre players.
I guess Jose has always worked with senior players and avoided younger players so this problem remain untreated during his time.
I was at Old Trafford for that brace on his debut vs Hull - we were excited about what he could become, LvG seemed to rate him as well but then he lost his way
Not clear what the main reason is for him not making the step up - I suppose its a combination of injuries, mental weakness and managerial changes
Not clear what the main reason is for him not making the step up - I suppose its a combination of injuries, mental weakness and managerial changes
Not sure if its a club problem, he came on loan to us after he scored those two goals against Hull under Giggs. I remember being massively excited thinking we'd nabbed a great striker .... he was shite, played most games for us that season, scored about 4 or 5 goals in all. Think he was just probably overhyped. We were glad to see him go. Remember we were desperate too, Lewis Dunk had been our top scorer the season before with 7 goals!!
that's hardly fair, there's been countless players both at United and at other PL clubs that had players with great potential in their reserves that couldn't deliver in first team football
Ebanks-Blake for example, looked tailor made for PL football but ended up being a Championship level player at best and then only had a few seasons playing in that division at a highish level
He looked a real talent but his movement was incredibly bad. He had great pace but really struggled to utilise it because he was so static.
He had a season where he trained every day with Van Persie, Falcao and Rooney and showed absolutely no signs of improvement. Being around players of that quality (although past their best) and not improve is actually a remarkable achievement.
He had a season where he trained every day with Van Persie, Falcao and Rooney and showed absolutely no signs of improvement. Being around players of that quality (although past their best) and not improve is actually a remarkable achievement.
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Interesting. Can add Rashford to that as well. I actually think the way Mourinho was treating them was good, to some extent, as it kept them grounded. In fact, we saw the best of Martial under Jose last season whereas, under Ole, most of the players seemed to have relaxed a little.
Ole needs to stop befriending our players.
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Sounds like a common theme these days.
I live in Aberdeen and whilst this is very true there are rare flashes or reminders of the player he could have been but by all accounts he’s a total Cnut and walks around like he is God’s gift whilst struggiling to get in to Aberdeen’s first 11.
So that kinda shows where his head is at and how far he has fallen.
If this is the case I find it amusing he's been fecked off
Never rated him. Looked ordinary whenever I watched his videos.
Never rated him tbh just looked so average technically. Had a good eye for goal and good finishing skills but nothing about his game screamed top tier ability.
I wouldn't necessarily say its typified by todays footballing environment. Its always happened. There has been many case's where certain young players feel they've made it as such and start to become lenient and unmotivated with themselves. You can go all the way back to 70's where players were just content with making few appearances for United and living off that small glamorous reputation.
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good.
You're right to be hysterical, they deliberately coached him to rupture a cruciate ligament at a key stage in his development.
Yeah, we can get relegated so the players don't think they've made it anymore.
I'd forgotten he was still here. Other than pace and a half decent eye for goal he never looked like he would hack it at the top level. Now the injuries have taken the pace away there is barely a Championship level player left. His goal return for Aberdeen is atrocious, wouldn't surprise me if he retires before he's 30.
Never kicked on. Didn't put in the work to develop a more rounded game. It happens.
If he works harder he may have a Josh King style resurgence in a few years. If not he might be forgotten about
If he works harder he may have a Josh King style resurgence in a few years. If not he might be forgotten about
Thanks I was trying to figure out what I was feeling. Now I can go and burn my whole office down to match the hysterical state I am in.
We are on course to do that this season. Who says Woodward doesn't think about the future.
He absolutely wasn't at that level. He was very quick and a good finisher. He had a lot of other things to work on. Pogba and Ravel were extremely well rounded footballers. TFM, Poole and Gribbin were highly overrated.
Best of luck to him. Hopefully can put injury issues behind him can work his way up to the Prem.
You could see the talent was there, but either he didn’t care or he wasn’t fit. To be fair, he didn’t get a massive run of games.