Harry Wilson interview: Fulham winger discusses secret behind goalscoring form and nearly joining Leeds on Deadline Day
Harry Wilson speaks to Sky Sports about his purple patch for Fulham and contract talks; Wilson has three goals and three assists in his last four league games; watch Fulham vs Nottingham Forest live on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football on December 22, kick-off at 8pm
Sunday 21 December 2025 10:12, UK
He's one of the most in-form players in the Premier League players, but this season could have looked very differently for Harry Wilson.
Deadline Day proved to be crucial not just for Wilson but for Fulham too. A last-minute move to Leeds was suddenly on the cards - on a day when Fulham signed three forwards in Kevin, Samuel Chukwueze and Jonah Kusi-Asare and nearly got a fourth in Tyrique George.
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The new additions meant Wilson was nearly granted permission to leave the club - until the deal fell through in the final hours of the window. Now, he's one of the first names on the Fulham team sheet, with three goals and three assists in his last four Premier League games - averaging a goal contribution every 55 minutes.
Since the start of November, only Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Bruno Fernandes have been involved in more Premier League goals than Wilson, who also got a hat-trick for Wales against North Macedonia in that period. What could have been for Leeds.
"It was the first time it had happened to me," Wilson recalls from Fulham's training ground about that Deadline Day drama - which he dealt with while on international duty with Wales. "I'm used to watching it on Sky Sports, so to be part of it was different.
"My phone was going off every two minutes. It was going to happen, then it wasn't going to happen. Then it was back on, then it was off.
"It wasn't a certain few days or 24 hours. I didn't know where I was going to be. It was a bit of a relief when the window closed and I could concentrate on the football."
Wilson had to be patient on that late evening at the start of September - but then again, he has been really patient throughout his whole career. He was barely given a chance at Liverpool, making just two appearances, then was sent out on loan six times before finding a new, permanent home in Fulham.
Even at Craven Cottage, he has been rotated in and out of the team since their promotion to the Premier League. Last season, he only started one out of Fulham's first 15 Premier League games of the campaign.
Compare that to now, where he has started seven league games in a row for the very first time as a top-flight player. That consistent faith from Marco Silva is a key factor behind this goalscoring run.
"I wouldn't say I'm doing anything different. I think regular minutes and a rhythm really helps me," says the 28-year-old.
"When I'm in and out of the team, you can see it disrupts the rhythm, but I feel like I'm getting a really good run in the team.
"Even before I was at Fulham, I feel like I've played my best football when I've been playing game in, game out. You feel really fit when you're scoring, you're assisting and your confidence is high. You feel like you can just keep going and going."
But how long will Wilson keep "going and going" at Fulham? Like head coach Marco Silva, the 28-year-old is about to enter the final six months of his Craven Cottage contract. Wilson may end up out the door and the topic of contract talks comes up.
"Yeah, not a lot really," says Wilson about what he can update us on about those contract talks. "I'm fully focused on playing. I play football because I love the game and wherever I am, it's got to be somewhere where I'm going to play.
"That's what I played for before, that's what I love doing. If we get to the World Cup, I want to be in the best shape going into that. I think what's going to put me in the best position is somewhere where I'm playing, getting the minutes, playing well.
"Hopefully scoring and assisting, I've been able to do that the last couple of months and then whatever happens after that happens.
"Fulham is somewhere I wanted somewhere to call home. For the last four-and-a-half years, it's somewhere I've been really, really happy here.
"I feel like we've had some amazing times together, we've won the Championship, we've had three solid years in the Premier League and I'm hoping this will be another one. But this next contract has got to be right for me and my family. So yeah, we'll see what happens."
How Salah and Bale influenced Wilson
A left-footed right winger in such good form sounds very Mohamed Salah - at least the Salah of previous seasons - which is apt given the Liverpool winger is a former team-mate of Wilson's.
The two only played together during pre-season campaigns at Liverpool, before Wilson headed out on his loan deals - but those experiences alongside Salah proved invaluable.
"Just seeing how he is, how he looks after himself off the pitch, how hungry he is for goals and assists over the last eight or nine years," says Wilson about what he learned from Salah.
"His numbers have been incredible. And to do that year-on-year as a winger as well, they are striker numbers when predominantly he plays out wide. So that just shows how determined he is.
"And you see sometimes even when Liverpool win and he maybe doesn't score, you can tell he's not happy because he's just so hungry to get on the scoresheet or to help his team.
"You have to have that as an attacking player, especially in this day and age where you're judged on your numbers.
"And the other way as well, sometimes you don't have your best game, but you might pop up with a goal or an assist and people will think you played well.
"I think Salah's the prime example of that. He can go through a game and not be great, but you know in the 80th to 90th minute, he's going to pop up and win the game for Liverpool. And I think that's a special trait to have."
Wilson certainly has the Salah touch right now when it comes to the type of goals he's scoring - so many stylish left-footed finishes from in and around the penalty area.
But another big influence is his former Wales team-mate Gareth Bale, who he played with 29 times at international level. Now Wilson is really emulating the former Real Madrid man, after the 28-year-old took the Wales armband for the first time last month.
"By far the best player I've ever played with," says Wilson about Bale - who certainly had a good education when it comes to right-winger mentors.
"He could do everything. He started off as a left back, so he could defend and then moved up the pitch, he would score, he would assist. He was always the quickest, he had a long throw, which not many wingers in world football do.
"But I think the biggest thing for him and for me was how he was off the pitch. He was playing for the biggest club in the world, but you turn up to Wales camp and he was always the same, always joking around, obsessed with golf.
"He was this worldwide superstar that everyone knew playing for Real Madrid, but when he turned up at camp with Wales, he was the biggest joker, the biggest kid. But as soon as the games came around, he dragged us through, got us to a couple of tournaments basically by himself."
Those leadership responsibilities are falling at Wilson's feet. The 28-year-old will be a key player as Wales look to qualify for next summer's World Cup in March's play-offs - but he has a big role to play for his club before then.
With Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukweze at the Africa Cup of Nations - and Rodrigo Muniz injured - Fulham's wide attacking options have taken a hit at the busiest time of the year.
But after a bit of patience, Wilson has shown he is capable of delivering.
Watch Fulham vs Nottingham Forest live on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football on December 22 from 6.30pm, kick-off 8pm
