Intrepid young Hearts striker James Wilson has earned his Spurs after going his own way with unconventional loan move to north London

If there’s one thing that Craig Mulholland would have known in advance of Friday’s St Andrews summit, it would have been that consensus of youth development in Scotland is usually hard to come by.

Ask ten different people for their views on how best to turn a raw teenage talent into a future international and you are likely to get as many different answers.

Back in January, the contrasting opinions of James Wilson and his then Hearts manager Derek McInnes illustrated the point.

After breaking through the previous year under Neil Critchley as a 17-year-old, scoring six goals across 32 appearances, the forward struggled for game time in the first half of the campaign.

Understandably, you might say, given that Claudio Braga and Lawrence Shankland were heading up a Tynecastle title tilt.

At the turn of the year, with just one league start and five substitute appearances to his name, the forward resolved to go out on loan.

McInnes could see the value in this – provided Wilson was being routinely exposed to the rough and tumble of competitive football.

But when it emerged that the player had agreed to spend five months with Tottenham’s Under-21s, his boss made no secret of the fact that he thought he was taking a wrong turn in his career.

‘I don’t think it’s the right move for him,’ he said at the time. ‘Ultimately, it’s academy football and I think he’s better than that. But it was something James wanted to do.’

You could see Wilson’s point of view, though. Spurs paid a six-figure loan fee and there was an agreement that they’d cough up £2.5million to sign him if they liked what they saw. Who wouldn’t have their head turned by such an enticing possibility?

In the end, the transfer to the bright lights didn’t materialise. But was the experience quite as unfulfilling as McInnes feared it might be? Apparently not.

Aside from the four goals in 11 games he hit in EPL2, Wilson made the bench in Premier League matches at home to Manchester United and away to Fulham.

But it was the day-to-day existence which shaped him. When Igor Tudor was in charge between February and March, he trained regularly with the first-team.

This involved pitting his wits against supreme defenders – World Cup winners in Cristian Romero and Pedro Porro and a man mountain in the form of Micky van de Ven.

He was also able to learn from attackers including James Maddison, Richarlison and Dominic Solanke.

Say what you like about the supposedly sterile nature of English academy football but it was an experience which money couldn’t buy.

‘I got the experience of training with their first team, being on the bench, the facilities, the physical nature of it,’ he later explained.

‘There are loads of things that I picked up on. You’re surrounded by amazing players — world-class players playing in the Premier League, playing in the World Cup. You learn loads.

‘Everyone is so physical down there. You see the pure size of the guys, how athletic they are. You try to compete with that.

‘I feel like I’m a better player for it coming back.’

There doesn’t appear to be any argument with that. Wilson could have been forgiven for having a degree of trepidation about what he was walking back into in Gorgie when he learned that his stay in north London wasn’t being extended.

With McInnes moving to Rangers and Wouter Vrancken installed as his replacement, change was in the air.

Despite Shankland vacating one spot up front by also exiting to Rangers, the 19-year-old may have experienced a sense of déjà vu as he remained rooted to the bench in the first four competitive matches.

But his luck began to change on August 9 when he climbed off the bench against Dundee United, with another cameo role following in the home draw versus Benfica. Vrancken had evidently liked what he’d seen in training.

Wilson’s first Hearts goal since July 2025 then arrived in the thumping of Inverness in the League Cup. And it was just the appetiser.

An outrageous strike from distance in the 2-2 home draw with Rapid Vienna immediately entered folklore as one of the club’s great European goals.

Its importance was underscored as Vrancken’s side won the penalty shoot-out in the away leg in Austria.

Wilson will now face Mo Salah’s Trabzonspor and Monaco, among others, in the Conference League. More grist to the mill.

Having also found the net against St Johnstone – a game in which he partnered Braga – then came Thursday at Easter Road.

Assessing the situation as Josh McPake cut in from the left, Wilson moved towards the front post then sold Grant Hanley a dummy by withdrawing into the vacant space. He took the cut-back in his stride and put Hearts on their way to a famous victory. Who says you can’t teach that stuff?

Without question, the vacancy created by Shankland’s departure has helped him. Bluntly, he looks far more capable than Amadou Ba-Sy, who’s struggled to make an impact since coming in from Rouen in the summer.

The teenager just seems to get Vrancken’s demands – the rapid movements and quick switches of play designed to pull defences apart.

‘James is also one who is smart enough to know what we want,’ said the Belgian. ‘He is not as physical as some other strikers but he can read the game and he can see what we want and try to do.’

His game intelligence has improved, helped – no doubt – by mixing with and watching the best in the business in his short time at Spurs.

‘You’ve got to be smart, you’ve got to understand where people are moving,’ the player explained. ‘It’s not just where you want to go. If someone’s running beyond you, then you need to drop. That’s a key message.’

His ongoing education can only be good news for Sebastien Pocognoli as he settles on a squad for the forthcoming Nations League matches against Slovenia, North Macedonia and Switzerland.

Of the five strikers Steve Clarke took to the World Cup, only George Hirst was under the age of 29, while Che Adams was the only one playing in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

Adams and Shankland would be expected to be part of the Belgian’s first party with Oli McBurnie, Robbie Ure and Kieron Bowie presenting strong cases, too.

None, though, are more compelling than Wilson’s at this moment in time.

Since becoming Scotland’s youngest men’s international by playing against Greece in March 2025 aged just 18 years and 17 days, he was tantalisingly close to being elevated into the squad for the US after training and playing against Curacao.

There’s no doubt that he only got so near to making the cut because he trusted his instincts and ploughed his own furrow in January.

There’s a strong head on the shoulders of a young player who seems destined not to be stuck in the nation’s talent pipe. Maybe someone should speak to him.