We're about to have the best time with Harry Wilson
Harry Wilson's skills should have put him in someone's pantheon by now. Someone more interesting than Fulham. There's nothing else for him to do, at Leeds, but to make it here.
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Billy Bremner is there to win, 1974: Leeds at the World Cup ⭑ "This was proof that we do have what it takes. We have had a sing song and a cabaret in the hotel to put us all in good heart. I said we would win the World Cup and I do not take a word of that back."
Allan Clarke's perfect day, 1970: Leeds at the World Cup ⭑ "I was so excited I knocked the glass of water I had been drinking right across the room," Allan's mother Alice told the Walsall Observer.
Shoulder to shoulder: World Cup week (think of a number) ⭑ From Ao Tanaka labouring morning to night to Gabriel Gudmundsson shouting out the wife: it's not a normal World Cup, so it's made for Erling Haaland.
There's a story that Marcelo Bielsa 'blocked' Leeds United's attempts to sign Harry Wilson in 2020 and, according to David Ornstein of The Athletic, had them chasing Rodrigo De Paul instead. It's these stories that must make Victor Orta's head explode with the sound of a thousand burner phones hitting a thousand office walls.
Wilson is joining Leeds now. De Paul has been one of the world's best midfielders for years. Raphinha should have won the Ballon d'Or, Crysencio Summerville is a World Cup star about to ruin his career at Old Trafford, Robin Koch/Diego Llorente/Marc Roca/Rasmus Kristensen played in European finals or whatever and Weston McKennie has announced, this month, that the 2026 World Cup was his vindication at last: "They all gave me a lot of shit for it," he told ESPN, "Now they understand what I mean," about ranch dressing on everything.
Everything has its time and its place, including ranch, and we can trust Bielsa if Wilson wasn't the right fit for his team. But Leeds United is Daniel Farke's team now and it feels significant that, six weeks after he challenged the club's board to show the same ambition he feels, the board's first work of the summer was signing the player their manager wanted a year ago. The best time to sign Wilson was then. The second best time is now.
Particularly as he is free. Even with whatever top up Wilson's wages gain from arriving without a transfer fee, his out-of-contract manoeuvre from Fulham to Beeston keeps the Peacocks nearer to sanity than many clubs are willing to be this summer. Elliot Anderson is going to Manchester City for £116m, and as far as I can tell it's because Nottingham Forest decided to name the biggest price they could. Newcastle United got £70m from Barcelona for Anthony Gordon and £100m from Tottenham for Sandro Tonali. Tottenham have given West Ham £85m for Mateus Fernandes, too. Aston Villa are asking Arsenal for £130m for Morgan Rogers, and West Ham want another £50m for Crysencio Summerville from Old Trafford.
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