Callum Wilson has admitted that he would’ve urged Steve Bruce to sign Ross Barkley had he been aware of his availability on loan last summer.
Speaking to Sky Sports, our sidelined striker talked about a training session he had with the while on international duty with England.
Wilson confessed that he was left in awe at an “unbelievable” Barkley and how he has been impressed with his form for Aston Villa so far this season.
Here is full clip of him talking to Sky’s Super 6 podcast:
“I was taken aback by Ross’ ability.
“Playing with him at training and at international level, for me as a striker, he’d be a great person to play with at club level – he’d help you score goals and things like that.
“I didn’t even realise he was going to go on loan from Chelsea, otherwise I would have said to (Steve) Bruce that you have to bring him up here!
“He is unbelievable.”
Ironically, he very nearly linked up with Barkley at Aston Villa, with him admitting in the same interview that he held conversations with Dean Smith last summer before deciding to join Steve Bruce’s NUFC instead.
Wilson isn’t the only one who thinks we should have signed the Chelsea man on loan, with it previously reported by The Chronicle that Steve Bruce was keen to bring him to Tyneside before he ended up at Villa Park.
He is Premier League proven, cost-effective and clearly matches the dynamic midfielder mould we were looking at given we ended up signing Arsenal’s Joe Willock in January.
Some Toon fans may remember the amazing solo goal he scored for Everton at St James’ Park back in March 2014. As soon as Barkley became available, our hierarchy should have jumped at the chance to sign him!
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