Following on from his departure from Newcastle United earlier this week, striker Callum Wilson has shed some light on his future plans in football.
After nearly five years on Tyneside, in which he scored 49 goals for us, this summer felt like the right time for the England international to finally leave St James’ Park after a campaign blighted by injuries.
Despite having recently done punditry work for the Club World Cup however, it looks like Wilson’s playing days are far from over, and the man is still incredibly motivated to succeed.
In a fresh interview with shared by The iPaper, Wilson has opened up on the emotional aspects of his farewell from Newcastle, in particular coming to terms with being labelled injury-prone online and in the media…
Speaking to the media on behalf of DAZN, Wilson has explained for the first time just how his Newcastle exit panned out.
With his contract coming to an end this summer, there was talk that Wilson would accept a ‘pay as you play’ style deal to extend his stay on Tyneside.
But it looks like with no guarantee of game time, Wilson’s desire for first team minutes helped inform his decision, seeing the player turn down our proposal and seek a new challenge:
> _“If I was at a point where I was content with what I’ve done in my career and want to see the last few years fizzle out, sitting around and helping younger players then not a problem. But I still feel I can do that as well as play on the pitch.”_
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> _“For me, looking at the bigger picture, Alex \[Isak\] has done fantastic last season and the season before so it’s difficult to get minutes.”_
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> _“It’s OK, it’s not a problem but sometimes he’s not even coming off. It was five minutes here and there and I want more for myself. That was basically my decision.”_
It’s an emotional admission from the 33-year-old, who even in his supposed twilight years looks like he still had so much to give.
As little as 18 months ago, Wilson was still among the top goalscorers in the Premier League, and injuries have indeed robbed him of going out of the club on a high.
For such a prolific player in his prime, being labelled as injury-prone must be the most demoralising thing to a footballer.
And Callum Wilson is perhaps no exception. Last season alone he missed 20 league games due to injury.
Though he mostly comes across as quite headstrong in his words, Wilson does admit that some of the comments from fans and the media concerning his fitness and availability did get under his skin.
> _“Everyone thinks ‘he’s losing a yard of pace’, all these other things, but obviously coming on as a substitute is completely different to starting a game.”_
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> _“When you come on as a sub it’s so hard to catch a second wind and before you know it the game is over. That was the only thing for me. I still feel I can offer so much.”_
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> _“Nobody likes to get injured, no-one wants to get injured and a lot of the time it was because I was selfless and put myself forward to play in games when I wasn’t 100 per cent fit to try and help the team because we might not have had a striker._
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> _“It was to the detriment of myself and that’s why I then had these setbacks.”_