Former Liverpool academy winger Harry Wilson is in the form of his life having hit three goals and three assists in four games for Fulham.
The Welshman has become an established Premier League player with the cottagers after joining from Liverpool in 2021.
The move brought an end to a 16-year association between Wilson and the Reds, and has proven to be mutually beneficial for all parties.
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Liverpool received a handsome looking £12m fee, while Fulham got a player who has gone on to score 30 goals across 163 appearances.
Given his current form in the top division, some Liverpool supporters may be wondering why the Reds chose to cash in on a player who clearly had the talent to perform at a good level. As Wilson himself revealed in 2021, though, they did not really have too much choice in the matter.
Harry Wilson was left disappointed at Liverpool omission
Wilson’s good form for Fulham is not something especially new. While he is in a particularly rich vein, the 28-year-old also hit six league goals last season. He has five already in 2025/26.
Jurgen Klopp was someone who always appreciated talent within the Liverpool academy, and the German recognised how good Wilson could be.
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“Of course he can [succeed at Anfield],” Klopp said in 2019. “That’s why we loaned him, so he can make the steps.
“His shooting is world-class. Find me five players who shoot better than him, that is obvious, but the game is about more and that is what he has to improve and that is clear.”
It may have sounded strange coming from Klopp at the time, but Wilson’s shooting really is top-class. He is proving that this season. But despite the positives words from the then Liverpool manager, Wilson claimed he knew he had to leave after being omitted from the Community Shield squad in 2019.
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“It was in 2019, when I came back from Derby. I’d had a really good season in the Championship. We fell at the last hurdle in the play-off final, but my numbers were good, my performances were good,” the Wales international told GOAL after joining Fulham in 2021.
“That pre-season at Liverpool, we played a few games in England and then went out to America and France. I played pretty much every game, scored a few goals and felt like I was in a good position. Then we played Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley and I was 19th man. The disappointment of that really hit me.
“I felt that was my chance, and it had gone. I thought I’d done all I could, and I think that was when I started to accept that I’d have to leave.”
Did Wilson deserve a bigger chance at Liverpool?
If Wilson was going to get his chance at Liverpool, then the 2019/20 season had felt like a good opportunity for that.
He was clearly in Klopp’s thinking at the time, and after hitting 24 Championship goal contributions he really was primed to make the step up.
Sadly for Wilson, though, Liverpool were right in the middle of their best period under Klopp. Champions of Europe, the Reds would go on to blitz the Premier League the following season. It would have been difficult for Wilson to get minutes even if he had stayed.
Nevertheless, there would have been no harm in keeping him around. He went on loan to Bournemouth that same summer and ended up scoring seven goals for the Cherries, proving himself capable in the Premier League.
Already 22 at the time, Wilson had bided his time at Liverpool and should have been ready to make the step up. In hindsight, things couldn’t really have worked out better for him in the long-run, but it remains a shame that one of the brightest lights to come through the academy only played twice for the senior side.
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