Aston Villa set to beat Liverpool and Manchester United to premium Scottish talent

Posted Wednesday, June 22, 2022 by Caughtoffside.com

Scottish striker Rory Wilson has been attracting attention from the Premier League for some time, but it looks as if Aston Villa may have won the race for the talented 16-year-old. Wilson scored 49 goals at club level last season for Rangers and already has 8 goals in 11 appearances for Scotland’s under 17 team.

The Glasgow Times have quoted his coach with the national team, Brian McLaughlin, as saying that “I think he is potentially one of the best strikers at his age in Europe.” A former Celtic striker himself, McLaughlin likely knows a thing or two about the skills needed to make it at a high level.

The Athletic have reported that Villa came to an agreement with Rangers late last week for Wilson, set to be around the £350k mark, with add-ons said to take it to around a million. Rangers will also have a 10% sell-on clause. That fee has been the fruit of weeks of negotiation, after a dispute about his contract meant Rangers might have only received a compensation fee. After threatening to take the matter to FIFA however, Villa agreed to up their offer.

According to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, the decisive factor in Wilson’s decision was the presence of Steven Gerrard. The former Liverpool player was in charge of Rangers as Wilson came up through the ranks and both will have seen the other up close.

Even though Wilson may not make an impact for some years, it proves the extra pull that Gerrard has over many other managers, with Liverpool and Manchester United also trying to take Wilson away from Rangers.