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Whilst many are crying out for Harry Wilson to return to Liverpool from his loan spell at Derby, the Rams’ 0-0 draw against Nottingham Forest showed why the young attacker isn’t quite ready to star for the Reds just yet.
What’s the word, then?
The Wales international has been in stunning form under Frank Lampard this season, scoring eight goals and recording one assist. A number of his strikes have been worldies, and it feels as if the 21-year-old is having his own goal of the season contest against himself at times.
He has become particularly good at set-pieces, scoring three already this season including a phenomenal one at Old Trafford in which the ball swerved in and out before nestling in the top corner – he then proceeded to give the Man United fans the ‘five times’ sign, a homage to Liverpool’s record in Europe, further endearing himself to his parent club.
Despite Wilson’s impressive form, Jurgen Klopp’s side are battling against the best of the very best right now. They’re challenging one of the best Premier League side’s in history for the title in Manchester City, and are looking to go far in Europe again having lost the final to Real Madrid. Wilson is good, but he perhaps isn’t ready for that level just yet.
What happened against Forest?
The former Hull loanee’s passing accuracy was less than 67%, as per WhoScored, while he managed to direct just one of his three shots on target, was offside once and committed two fouls. There were just three points between fourth-placed Derby and seventh-placed Forest before Monday night’s huge encounter, and that gap remains the same after neither side could take advantage.
For Wilson in the Championship, the stage doesn’t get much bigger throughout the season than in games against promotion rivals – if he wanted to prove to Liverpool that he could make the jump, he needed to do it against Aitor Karanka’s side.
The Reds have some of the best players in the world in Wilson’s position; he must step it up in these big games if he wants to break into Klopp’s thinking anytime soon.