Harry Wilson is making up for lost time at Leeds — Square Ball 11/7/26

Always liked him!

Written by: Chris McMenamy

Leeds United’s first signing of the 2026/27 season is a lesson in patience — and history. A Wales international winger who almost signed previously, only for the selling club to change their mind. No, it’s not Dan James (again). Welcome, Harry Wilson!

Career so far

This time last year the suggestion that Leeds wanted to sign Wilson was met with a sense of indifference. He was a Premier League winger at Fulham, a decent player coming off a season in which he had broken his foot and been limited to a thousand league minutes. At 28, there wasn’t all that much to get excited about other than his ability to take set-pieces.

Leeds considered him to be one of the attackers that Daniel Farke publicly declared his team needed at the start of last season. Deadline Day 2025 involved reports of Leeds engaging in talks and placing a bid. There was even a private flight scheduled to land at Leeds Bradford from Cardiff, where Wilson was training on international duty with Ethan Ampadu and the boys.

But Fulham said no, choosing to keep him around despite his contract having less than a year to run. Perhaps they had seen the set-piece trends in the opening weeks of the Premier League season and fancied keeping him around as a weapon. It turned out to be an inspired decision, with Wilson enjoying a career-best ten goals and seven assists as Fulham finished 11th.

Wilson began his career as a Liverpool academy player, having grown up just across the border in Wrexham. Like all good young prospects, he spent his first eight years as a professional footballer flitting between loan clubs. Crewe, Hull, Derby — more on that later — followed by a brief Premier League stint at Bournemouth before dropping back into the Championship with Cardiff and settling at Fulham. He’s been around the houses.

Not only was last season his career best, but it was only his fifth as a top-flight footballer and he turns 30 next year. Wilson deserves credit for showing progress and maturity. He bided his time and accepted coming in and out of the starting XI across Fulham’s first three seasons back in the Premier League after promotion in 2021/22. Last season, Wilson properly nailed down his place in the team for the first time and he never looked back.

After all those years Wilson spent fighting for a place at Liverpool via loan moves and his patience at Fulham — it’s paid off with a move to the massive Leeds United Football Club in his prime years.

Do we have history?

Erm, yeah. At the risk of doing a full Peter Kay routine — d’yer remember Spygate? Wilson was one of Frank Lampard’s top-flight loanees at Derby County in 2018/19, when his temporary home got themselves into some prime EFL beef with Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa.

Spygate needs no introduction to United fans, much like they don’t need to be reminded of Derby’s 4-2 win at Elland Road, the night it all fell apart in the play-off semi-final second leg. But unfortunately, that’s where Wilson and his new employers first clashed in a meaningful way.

Wilson set up Derby’s second goal and scored the third to give them an aggregate lead, celebrating his penalty by blowing kisses to the South Stand. But he’s more intensely remembered for piggybacking on Richard Keogh as they both did the binoculars gesture at full-time.

That was four months before Keogh’s career at Derby ended with his contract being terminated for gross misconduct after being injured in the car crash sustained when Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett were arrested for drink-driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Why am I mentioning that? Just for context. And pettiness.

At least Wilson can now reunite with his teammate on the right side of that Derby team: Jayden Bogle. Maybe we’ll finally know who shit in the away dressing room at Elland Road now we’ve got two potential witnesses at Leeds.

A much more minor gripe with Wilson was his vicious foul on Gabi Gudmundsson at Elland Road in January of this year, for which he was lucky not to be sent off.

We’re more than happy to write off his part in ending Javi Gracia’s time at Leeds in April 2023, when Wilson scored the first Fulham goal in a 2-1 win. That team was an awful bunch of losers, Harry, it’s all good. We’re better now. Promise.

Best moment

A season isn’t a moment, but it’s hard to look past Wilson’s output in 2025/26. Ten goals and seven assists in any Premier League season is a remarkable return for a wide midfielder, but for Wilson to pull all that off before joining the biggest club in the world really puts it into perspective.

He was flirting with us all along, wasn’t he? Even when he kicked Gabi and 35,000 Leeds fans called him nasty names, it was all bringing us to this point.

For a dead ball specialist, Wilson did actually score quite a few open play goals last season — but it’s worth picking out this free-kick against Brighton:

If he wanted to do that in the third game of the season down at Brighton’s credit card arena, that’d be nice. Nothing against Georginio and Pascal, like.

Worst moment

Since we’ve already mentioned Wilson’s shameful, terrible, abhorrent role in Derby making every Leeds fan sad back in 2019, there’s no need to go over that once again as his worst career moment. Plus, I’m sure he had a grand old time partying at United’s expense.

His first major tournament with Wales came at Euro 2020, where they progressed through their group into a last 16 tie against Denmark. Wilson only played a bit part in the group stage but came on after an hour against the Danes, with his country trailing 2-0. Wales were outgunned and eventually succumbed to a 4-0 defeat, but not before Wilson was sent off for a petulant foul on Joakim Maehle in the 90th minute.

It was probably quite a soft red and, if anything, only served to endear Wilson by showing his human side — having had enough of Denmark and choosing to boot one of them. Don’t be doing that for Leeds, Harry lad. Not unless we’re 4-0 up against That Lot and Bruno Fernandes gets in your face.

Rate the announcement

Like any modern transfer, Wilson’s arrival was punctuated with plenty of witty banter and modern cultural references:

Cast Away came out in 2000, when Wilson was three. Unlike the ball from the film, this Wilson is not our imaginary friend but rather Leeds United’s first summer signing.

His arrival was accompanied by the customary awkward video in which elite footballers show the world why they are, in fact, playing professional football and not actors fit for TV. Not even Hollyoaks:

Wilson does his best to execute the script given to him without sounding like a primary school kid being asked to read in front of their class.

As for this AI slop, why even bother? He’s here, lads! You can take photos of him and everything!

How will they win us over?

By raining crosses, free-kicks and corners into the box for Leeds players to throw their big noggins at. Wilson’s left foot gives United the option to attack dead ball situations all across the pitch, as he can dovetail with the right-footed Anton Stach.

He’s more than a set-piece merchant, as evidenced by his open play goals, especially last season. Wilson is versatile in the sense that he could fit into any of the systems that Daniel Farke has deployed across his three years at the club, whether as a right winger cutting onto his left foot or as an attacking midfielder.

But most of all, it looks like we’re getting a proven Premier League winger in the peak years of his career without having to pay a transfer fee for him. That’s good business, right?!