James Wilson insists he’ll prove his controversial loan switch to Tottenham WAS the right thing for his career - as he’s returned to Hearts a better and stronger player.
The talented Tynecastle teen netted his first top team goal for over a year in Sunday’s 6-2 Premier Sports Cup win over Inverness then broke his silence on the move that caused such a stir in Gorgie back in January.
Wilson’s switch to Spurs stunned Scottish football as it arrived right in the middle of the Jambos’ thrilling title tilt. Former boss Derek McInnes was adamant moving south to play academy football wasn’t the right thing for the then-18-year-old.
Training with world-class stars
But Wilson - who made the bench for the North London derby against Arsenal - insists regular game time on top of daily sessions training with the array of international stars including Dutch giant Micky Van De Ven has taken him to a new level. Now he’s back at Tynecastle and desperate to prove it under Wouter Vrancken.
Wilson said: “Everyone looks at that move as going down to play 21s football. But the experience of training with their first team, being on the bench, the facilities, the physical nature of it. There's loads of things that I picked up on, you're surrounded by amazing players. World-class players that are playing in the Premier League, playing in the World Cup. You learn loads off them.
“The link-up play especially. I think you saw that on Sunday, the way I take it in and play it wide. That was something that got drilled into me down at Spurs. It was four months for me.
Proving his point
"There was about 10 games (for Hearts) in that period. Or I can get the experience of going down and training with a good Premier League side and getting game time again, which I missed out on in that period before. I feel like I'm a better player for it coming back. I’m just hoping I can show that now.”
Wilson trained regularly with the Spurs top team under Igor Tudor but was more on the fringes when Roberto De Zerbi came in.
He said: “Everyone is so physical down there. You see the pure size of the guys, how athletic they are. You try to compete with that. You've got guys like Van de Ven, who's a man-mountain. He's so athletically quick. Being able to play against him, train against him, being able to see that was cool. There's loads of things that I could list on and on.
“Under Tudor I was in quite a lot. Then De Zerbi, we just kind of helped them a little bit more, but you're still around it, if that makes sense. You're still in the session, you get to learn off them and see it. That was really cool. Being able to see the different managers, the different styles of play. It was an unbelievable experience.”
McInnes disagreement
McInnes claimed Wilson would have been better placed staying at Hearts and helping fight for the title.
Asked if he spoke to McInnes directly before making the move, Wilson said: “Yeah. I wasn't playing at the time, so I wanted to get some minutes. He wanted me to stay, as he came out and said. I just came to the conclusion that for the benefit of myself, I needed to go and play some minutes. I got that at Spurs.”
Now it’s about using the experience to force his way into Vrancken’s thinking. Wilson made a good start on Sunday after climbing off the bench at the interval to replace the ineffective Amadou Ba-Sy in attack.
The 19-year-old, who won a second Scotland cap against Curacao in June, caught the eye with an energetic showing, linking play well and topping it off with the fourth goal as he nodded home from two yards out after Claudio Braga’s effort had been saved.
That was his ninth top team goal for the Jambos. And Wilson said: “I honestly don't score any good goals here! I'm not sure I've scored from more than six yards, but it was just trying to be in the right place at the right time.
“The manager’s drilled into us that we can kill teams when we switch the play really quickly and we have someone wide. We have a lot of counter movements in the team. It's not just where you want to go but if someone's running beyond you, then you need to drop.
“That's a key message. Strikers especially, being in the six yard box, that's where the most goals are scored. I just need to make sure that I'm doing everything I can off the pitch. It's up to the manager, it's up to the people who make the decisions.
“If they believe that I'm doing the right job off the pitch, if they can trust me to play, then it's on them. But I just need to make sure that I'm in the best condition I can be. I totally believe I can do the job. I’m working hard, I'm just trying to put myself in the best place possible. If he wants to pick me, then happy days.”
