Bournemouth Fan View: Callum Wilson can earn an England call-up

As the “Callum Wilson, Bournemouth’s goal machine” song reverberated around Dean Court on Saturday it was hard for me not to avoid not feeling a tad emotional.

To see a legend of my side’s Championship title winning squad return and play so well after two – yes, two – ACL injuries was, well, quite nice. To say the least.

After grabbing a hat trick against Huddersfield in our 4-0 win he looks like he’s getting back to his best, and what a huge boost that is for us. And possibly England?

England calling for Callum Wilson

Although obviously one swallow does not make a summer – or one hat-trick does not make a call up in this case – Wilson may now have got the attention of England boss Gareth Southgate.

He was knocking on the door back in 2015 after his hat-trick at West Ham United, but he was then struck down by the first of his ACL injuries. After his second at the start of this year I honestly didn’t think he’d ever return the same player. I was praying to be wrong. It’s safe to say my prayers have been answered.

His goals on Saturday were all predatory finishes, and he struck his third so hard I was surprised the net didn’t break. The wild celebrations from the players on the pitch and the fans in the stand after Wilson’s third demonstrated how much that hat-trick meant.

With so many English strikers currently misfiring or not getting minutes, there’s a chance Wilson might be able to snatch that fourth forward spot on the plane to Russia too. He still has a long way to go of course, but he’s made the first steps in the right direction.

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A superb strike partnership

More importantly though, Wilson looks like he may be able to forge a truly terrifying (for defenders) partnership with Josh King. We’ve struggled to find the best match with the Norwegian, but we may have finally struck paydirt.

The movement from both for our fourth goal – where King harried his way through and then set up Wilson’s thunderbolt of a strike – was exemplary, and shows how much potential they have when played together.

Although we still have issues in midfield, I think we’ve finally stumbled upon a forward duo that can do damage consistently to Premier League back lines. Jermain Defoe and Benik Afobe are really going to have to go some to get into the first eleven now.

Awesome Aké

I would also be ashamed not to mention the performance of Nathan Aké this Saturday, who was absolutely superb. He was arguably better than Wilson this weekend, but goals make headlines.

He is looking an absolute steal for 20 million pounds compared to some of the defensive flops in other sides that I’ve seen this season.

I’ve not yet seen him have a bad game for us this campaign, and is clearly destined for greater things than AFC Bournemouth. I hope to see him in red and black for a little while longer yet of course!