Dan Bardell: Steven Gerrard pull helped Aston Villa sign academy sensation Rory Wilson from Rangers
Aston Villa academy sensation Rory Wilson is beginning to look like an absolute bargain after hitting the ground running at Bodymoor Heath following his transfer from Rangers last summer.
The former Gers youth product has netted four goals in six appearances since making his ascension from the Aston Villa Under-18s to the Under-21 in recent months – including a run of three goals and a pair of assists from his last two outings.
Villa paid just £350,000 for the 17-year-old, who burst onto the scene in Glasgow last year when he netted an astounding 49 goals over the course of the academy season, in a move that is beginning to look better by the day.
His record for Scotland’s Under-17 team further speaks volumes of the talent he possesses, with the six-foot-tall forward having found the back of the net 14 times from 13 games for the Tartan Army.
Having worked closely with the teenage striker during his time managing at Ibrox, former manager Steven Gerrard is thought to have played a significant role in luring him to Villa Park, and his signature is yet another sign of the attraction of the Bodymoor Heath academy.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, The Athletic’s Dan Bardell waxed lyrical about the teenage forward and admitted his hopes that he could rise the ranks into the first team at Aston Villa.
He said: “Villa have made a lot of signings along this route in the last two or three years, and hopefully, we will see it bear fruit at some point because they have invested an awful lot of money integrating these youngsters into the academy.
“Wilson looks really exciting, he scores some wonderful goals, some really lovely finishes and it looks like he has a few different types of finish in his locker as well.
“He was highly rated at Rangers, and Villa have done well to sign him up. I feel like Gerrard might have had an influence on that transfer at the time because he would have known him well while working at Rangers.
“I feel like he’s certainly someone to get excited about because he is so highly rated and he just looks like a pure goalscorer, and hopefully he is somebody who goes on to make it into the first team in the future.”
Wilson’s recent goalscoring heroics have quickly helped the Young Lions rise the Premier League 2 table and leave them sitting in the play-off spots with just four games of the season remaining.
With the Scotland youth international lining up beside fellow 17-year-old Kadan Young in attack – who was named on Unai Emery’s substitutes bench for the Boxing Day clash against Liverpool – the future of Villa’s attack seems to be in safe hands.
In other Aston Villa news, an academy duo are fighting for Unai Emery’s affection as a potential summer exit could open the door for first-team action.