[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith AFC Bournemouth playing their ever first season in England’s top flight, many people have tipped them to stay up. Eddie Howe produced gold last season in the championship with Bournemouth and with the 2014-15 campaign being Bournemouth’s best ever season, it’s no surprise they’ve attracted some big names into their squad.
Eddie Howe has done an excellent job in keeping his player’s feet on the ground, bringing in players and getting results over the last year. He’s secured some interesting signings that can only make his side stronger, with Max Gradel, Christian Atsu and the permanent deal for Artur Boruc being the stand outs. Credit has got to go to young Callum Wilson, he was brought into the Bournemouth side last summer for a bargain £3 million and went on to score 23 goals in all competitions including 20 in the league, making him Bournemouth’s highest goal scorer.
Callum Wilson’s professional career started six years ago back in 2009 as a substitute for Coventry City in a 1-0 League Cup defeat at the hands of Hartlepool. Wilson then later made his league debut for Coventry in December 2010 in a 1-0 defeat to QPR. He then went on to spend four months on loan at Kettering Town in the Conference South at the turn of the year, but only managed one goal in 17 appearances. Later in December 2011, Wilson found himself being loaned again to another Conference South side, this time it was Tamworth. He played the full 90 minutes of his debut in a 2-2 draw with Alfreton Town and scored in his second game for Tamworth in a 2-1 defeat to Wrexham.
Sadly however Wilson’s spell at Tamworth was not a long one as he fractured his foot in his 3rd game on loan at the club and didn’t feature again afterwards. After two fairly unsuccessful loan spells, a 21 year old Callum Wilson finally broke into the Coventry City first team at the start of the 2013-14 season and after establishing a strong partnership with strike partner Leon Clarke, found himself top scorer in League One after 11 games with 10 goals. He didn’t stay top for long though, finishing the season as the 3rd top goal scorer, notching 22 times – even more impressive considering he missed two months of action with a dislocated shoulder in early 2014. That turned out to be Wilson’s breakthrough season; he made it into the League 1 PFA Team of the Year, finished as Coventry’s top scorer and was voted player’s player and player of the season by his team mates and fans. This was enough for Wilson to earn his move to Championship side AFC Bournemouth, who finished 10th that year in their first season in England’s second tier. Bournemouth weren’t to last long in the Championship however, with the 2014-15 season being a huge success and Wilson’s 20 league goals firing them into the Premier league.
Now in the Premier League, Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth side will have a much harder task in staying up this year, but in keeping Wilson, it could be made a whole lot easier. With the likes of AS Monaco striker Anthony Martial being heavily linked with a move to English football, and a lot of big teams looking for a striker, could it be true that the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham (who have been linked with the aforementioned Frenchman) have overlooked a real English talent?
With Chelsea looking for a young versatile player to be deployed as a striker and winger, Anthony Martial certainly fits the bill, but the expensive AS Monaco man can’t be that much better than England’s young Callum Wilson, can he? Both players seem to have arrived on the scene as of last season and with no bids being made public for Callum Wilson whilst the likes of Clinton N’Jie and Anthony Martial are both going for big money moves to the English first division, it seems absurd that a player proven in the English game, although not the Premier League as of yet, can be so overlooked.
Whilst the quick young forward notched his first 3 goals away against West Ham in a seven goal thriller at Upton Park, it could leave many top clubs wondering just how they overlooked such a gem as Wilson, and Bournemouth look to build from a very positive start to the new campaign.
