Rory Wilson

[eamonn]

Does this mean he jumps ahead of Louie Barry ?

[Dave]

Does this mean he jumps ahead of Louie Barry ?

Seems very unlikely. He's two years younger and has never played a first-match before for anyone.

As above, first-team pre-season and a loan somewhere would be the obvious.

[stevo_st]

I thought April fools only went up to midday?
Wasn’t expecting this.

[SaddVillan]

He's obviously wised up to what's going on at Villa and decided that it's worth stopping, instead of trying to use the  club as a stepping stone to something "better."

Well done to the club for taking a strong stand, whilst at the same time keeping talking to him and his agent/family.

[Dave P]

He's signed.  Think this could be a masterstroke.

[OCD]

He still needs to put some size on.

[cdbearsfan]

Delighted with this.

[Brazilian Villain]

He's signed.

Does this mean he's back to being an exciting prospect as opposed to nothing special any time we've seen him play?

[rooboy316]

It means he can even get it done on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke.

[Toronto Villa]

Two years plus an option seems a bit odd. Like he’s committed but he hasn’t really. He has to prove now what all the fuss has been about considering he’s been angling to leave for ages. All well and good doing it at kids level but time to step up. Hopefully he gets involved this summer.

[SaddVillan]

He only turned 19 in January, so he'll be 21 when the 2yr deal comes to an end.
Not sure who has the option to excercise the 1 yr extension - Villa or Wilson

Anyway, we need to ensure that we don't end up in the same situation/stand-off in 2 years time. Train him hard from now until August and then integarate him into the first team - match day squad, 15 mins in Carabao Cup games? 

If he's showing promise  - loan him out in Jan and review his progress next summer.

I like him as a player, but not too sure of his character - after all, he gave Rangers the run around before joining us.

[Dave P]

I mean, this is purely for fattening up for FFP.  Let's not kid ourselves.

[Smithy]

I mean, this is purely for fattening up for FFP.  Let's not kid ourselves.

Yep. The level we're at now, it's going to be nigh-on impossible for a homegrown player to break through into the first time.  We'll have a few in the squad over the years, I'm sure, but it's probably going to take a generational talent to actually become a first-team fixture.  I'm sure our plan to recruit the best youth players into our academy, then sell them on, so be it.

If the youth system is going to be 90% about making money we can reinvest in the team, and 10% about developing players FOR the first team, I can live with that.  Despite it feeling wrong on many levels.

I hope I'm proven wrong, and that our Champions League retaining side of 2031 contains half a dozen homegrown talents from the West Midlands area!

[Drummond]

I'd wager he fancies his chances otherwise why bother signing?

[Villa Lew]

Great news well done Villa, hopefully he will end up as one of the great Scots, who have worn the Claret and Blue shirt.