Phil SumblerHarry Wilson grabbed a hat-trick for Cardiff City yesterday as the perfect response at the end of a week where he was forced to admit that his future career is likely to be away from Liverpool and Anfield.
The Welsh international struck three times in the Bluebirds 4-0 win over Birmingham to push himself further into the shop window ahead of the transfer window where he is expected to generate a lot of interest.
Naturally you would expect Cardiff to be in there but rumours surfacing today suggest that the Swans will join their South Wales rivals in looking to secure his signature but only if promotion to the Premier League is confirmed.
The Swans were interested in signing Wilson last summer but pulled out of any discussions when they realised the wage demands that would be placed on securing the deal and Cardiff jumped in to secure his services for the season.
But with the Bluebirds having been out of the promotion hunt for some time, Wilson’s preference is reported to be time in the Premier League with several sides also rumoured to be interested in a move for him.
“Yeah, maybe,” Wilson told Sgorio, when asked if it would be strange to leave Liverpool on a permanent basis.
“I feel my senior career has been elsewhere so far.
“150-200 appearances deep now and only a couple have been at Liverpool.
“My focus is on finishing the season strong here at Cardiff and then going to the Euros with Wales and doing well there.
“Whatever happens off the back of that will happen.
“I think it would be silly of me to look beyond that with such an important summer coming up in the international level.”
It promises to be an interesting summer for Wilson with the Euros – as he mentioned – and it does seem unlikely that any move will be completed before the competition where a strong performance could not only increase his value but also the interest in him could peak.
From a Swans perspective how much mileage does this particular rumour have is unknown but it will almost certainly disappear as quickly as it arrived should promotion not be achieved as his wage demands will take us out of the running.
Speaking after yesterday’s win at Birmingham McCarthy said of his hat-trick hero “Why could he not go back to Liverpool and play there?
“He is their player. I’m not going to pick and choose where he should go, but he is absolute quality.
“He is a great pro. Even the first game when he was left out and everybody was shocked, he responded brilliantly.
“That’s what I love about him. His ability and sheer determination to play.
“He is Liverpool’s player and I would love to see him go back and play there.
“But he has been to Hull, Bournemouth, Derby, here. I think he feels he got a raw deal from the Premier League from his time at Bournemouth, because they got relegated and almost like it reflects badly on him.
“It shouldn’t do. I saw him play for them. I sincerely hope [the Premier League] is where he is next year because that’s where he deserves to be.”
