...and full of players who also tore up the Championship and have done nothing more than okay in the Premiership.
No one is saying he won’t make it or can’t make it, it just doesn’t need the incessant building up of him in comparison to our front three. Doesn’t help the lad at all. I mean ‘as well rounded and intelligent as anyone in our front three’....? Not only was Mo playing at a higher level at the same age, but he’s improved at an almost super human rate since then. He’s just set records for goalscoring in this league. And Mane is Mane and Bobby is Bobby. They’re three pretty much elite forwards. And we don’t really have any cover for the wide positions, so it’d be great to see him start off there. But he isn’t even close to any of them, well rounded, intelligent, multi faceted, whatever. And why would he be?
I understand you a bit, but maybe we see things different. When Trent Arnold was 16 player in the reserves, he was already a better footballer technically than Clyne who was playing at a much higher level and an England regular and member of the first team. When Wilson was 19 players in the reserves, he was already and i said this at the time, the best set piece taker at this club. I didn't have to see him play in the first team to say that, because football is football, and when a young player can striker straight through a ball at 40 yards and impart dip and pace and do all the things which deems a good set piece taker at that level, i don't have to say that because for example Mane or Lallana are players with greater experience that they should be better set piece takers than Wilson.
Wilson is a player who has only played wide forward as a youngster, suddenly get games at Centre midfield, his not only played there but excelled, because of his composure touch and general awareness as a footballer, you wouldn't put a Traore or Ibe in centre midfield, you wouldn't put Salah or Sane there, even at that level. Why Lampard thought to play him there, and Giggs play him as a number 10 is partly because he has the attributes, attributes his had since he was 16 technically, and also a intelligence and understanding to play that position.
You say that and in the same token remember as a forward, what seperated him from Kent or Ibe while here, was his movement composure and finishing near the box, and general intelligence and understanding of the wide forward position, especially pertaining to what we saw from our best prototype wide forwards in Sterling Mane then Salah, like these players he knew when and where to run, and he was more composed when faced with the proposition of finishing an opportunity. This was at youth and reserve level, fast forward a few years, and an example of what i'm talking about can be seen in a game against top 6 PL opposition where he ran in behind, broke Uniteds line of defence and was left with a goalkeeper who was forced to take him out and get sent off in the process. The same runs he used to do for the u18's he was doing against the 2nd biggest team in the land, in the biggest stadium in the land. A run that Salah does time and time again, as does Sterling or most top wide forwards, he shares this in common with Salah, yet as i explained is also trusted to play as a centre midfield, what does that tell you off his well roundedness, his intelligence and understanding? But of course until he starts exhibiting these skills against Ryan Sessegnon, Ciaran Clark and Charlie Taylor week in week out, as opposed to Martin Olsson and Jamal Lewis, you may not understand what i mean.