14 June 2023 , 21:30
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Callum Wilson admitted he needed a “reset” after being hit with a “double whammy.”
Wilson feared his season was in danger of going wrong after he lost his starting place at Newcastle and was then dropped by England for their Euro qualifiers in March.
Newcastle striker Wilson, who was part of England’s World Cup squad in Qatar, lost his way but did some soul searching in the spring and his goals helped fire the Toon Army into the Champions League.
Wilson, 31, who is now back in England’s squad to face Malta and North Macedonia, said: “You are at a World Cup and then there’s a camp in March and you get withdrawn from the squad and you aren’t around the lads again.
“We had such a good time in Qatar that you want to be part of it. It was the same time that I dropped out the Newcastle team, so it was a double whammy.
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“All of a sudden you have England that is being taken away and your club position that is being taken away. It feels like everything around you is falling down. So you have to have a good look at yourself.
“I tried to use it in a positive way but yes, mentally, you do have to reset because you go on a drought of scoring goals and your targets you are aiming to achieve throughout the season are looking as though they will slip away so you have to take a step out of it.
“We went to Dubai for a mid-season break, there was no football but it gave me time to sit back and think: ‘Yes, it has been a fantastic start to the season but it has turned out into a bad season.’ So I had to basically pull my finger out and start scoring goals again.”
Wilson had a fine end to the season at Newcastle (Getty Images)That is exactly what happened. Wilson scored eight goals in the last eight games and Newcastle made the Champions League for the first time in 20 years while the Toon Army’s No9 got his England place back ahead of Ollie Watkins because of that form.
It was a special moment for Newcastle but Wilson admitted that the size of their achievement did not sink in until he went to a Sam Fender pop concert at St James’s Park on Sunday.
He said: “As weird as it sounds, I was on holiday, trying to switch off from football with some family time before the England camp. I was totally switched off.
“I kept ticking over but I was not really having time to reflect and the kids were getting me in and out of the pool and things like that. And then I went to the concert with my wife at St James’ Park. There was a sea of black and white.
Wilson played against Wales at the World Cup (Football Association of Wales)“And before he came out, he actually played the Champions League song and everyone was cheering and I was like ‘this is absolutely real’. I could see how much it meant to everybody in the stadium at that time.”
Wilson is a laid back character who has taken up collecting art - including pieces by British artists Banksy, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Philip Colbert - which started as an investment opportunity but has become a big-money interest.
He also only has one year left on his current deal but has made it very clear he wants to stay at St James’s Park for the long term.
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Wilson added: “I took a shine to it, in terms of the investment side of things and then you actually start to get into it, ‘I’ll put that on the wall.’ I got a few of the Newcastle lads into it, I put Joe Willock in touch with the art dealer I use.
“It is right that I am only contracted until next year. Newcastle is a fantastic place at the moment and I am enjoying my football. My agent and the club will be speaking on my future at some point and hopefully it will be with Newcastle.”