Harry Wilson: From Fulham sub-team to Wales’ main man

Bellamy admitted this. Wilson has started all six UEFA Nations League matches which will guarantee Wales a play-off place, regardless of tonight’s result. His three goals in three games have not been achieved since Bale in 2016.

But this campaign was stalled. He suffered a broken foot that saw him miss the first two matches, and two successive yellow cards ruled him out of Saturday’s narrow 1-0 win in Vaduz.

“It was frustrating; those first games came too soon for me,” said Wilson, who returned with two goals in Wales’ June matches against Liechtenstein and Belgium. “The suspension stopped the momentum a little bit.”

It will be interesting whether the captaincy will take away any of Wilson’s bite as he is not so dissimilar to the fire his coach has shown on the pitch.

Although there are misdeeds – the red card he received during Wales’ Euro 2020 exit to Denmark comes to mind – there is an edge to his game that is part of the appeal and part of the reason for the success.

“Streetwise,” is what Bellamy said.

“Harry uses his body in that way, and if you stress him too much, you do him a disservice,” Bellamy previously said, likening him to Carlos Tevez and Luis Suarez. “His intelligence, his ability to press, his intensity and what he can do really tells me how good of a player he is.”

Wales will hope Wilson can show that again against North Macedonia. From the beginning, of course.