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http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/steven-pressley-says-its-vital-6859251
Steven Pressley says it's vital Coventry City keep hold of star striker Callum Wilson
Sky Blues boss says club's home-grown leading scorer is central to the club's success
Gillingham's Elliott Hewitt challenges Coventry City's Callum WilsonSteven Pressley has stressed the importance of keeping leading scorer Callum Wilson at Coventry City next season.
The Sky Blues boss believes the striker will be central to the club’s success and will fight to hold on to the home-grown player who has been nothing short of sensational this season.
Pressley knows that Wilson’s 19-goal tally – with ten more games left to get a few more – will attract a host of clubs for his services in the summer, but the City manager said: “I want him to stay because I want us to have a team full of energy and passion for playing for this club next year, and your own players give you that.
“So I’ll certainly not be looking for any offers for Callum and we don’t want to sell Callum because we want to move forward again next year.
“So I hope we can keep him because there’s no doubt, and I have said all along, how important strikers are to a team, especially when you play with two strikers the way we play. They’re vital.”
The club have consistently admitted that they’d have to listen to ridiculous offers for any of their players, but Pressley knows money can’t always buy a suitable replacement for talent like Wilson.
“If we were to get a really high bid for Cal it’s not the fact that you have the money, it’s being able to attract a player of Callum's quality in League One,” he said.
“And that’s why developing your own players allows you to sometimes develop players who are better than you can attract to your club in League One.
"And Callum is a good example of that because it would be very difficult for us to go and sign another Callum Wilson because the other Callum Wilsons want to play at a higher level. So that’s the difficulty with replacing him.”
Callum Wilson
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Willson goes into tomorrow’s clash with automatic promotion-chasing Brentford at Griffin Park looking to hit the 20-goal milestone. And after hitting four in his last four games, few would bet against him achieving that mark.
“I’m delighted with the way he’s come back from his injury,” said Pressley.
“He typifies what I want at this club because although he’s scoring goals and creating chances, his determination and work-rate in terms of playing his part for the team shows that he’s a very selfless player.
“He gives himself to the team and, as a result of that, he gets the rewards. He leads by example and gives the whole team a lift.
“There’s no doubt that since he’s been back we have looked a much more potent team again.
“I was looking at the stats from the weekend again and our chances were up at 23/24 again which reflected our early season stats.
"And in terms of playing the game more in the opposition half we are doing that more now because Callum pushes teams back with his speed. So he’s changed that for us and he’s a huge part of what we want to create.”
He added: “I thought he and Nathan Delfouneso got a good combination in the final half an hour against Port Vale on Sunday, so building a strike partner relationship with Callum is going to be really important in the short and longer term.”
Steven Pressley says it's vital Coventry City keep hold of star striker Callum Wilson
Sky Blues boss says club's home-grown leading scorer is central to the club's success
Gillingham's Elliott Hewitt challenges Coventry City's Callum WilsonSteven Pressley has stressed the importance of keeping leading scorer Callum Wilson at Coventry City next season.
The Sky Blues boss believes the striker will be central to the club’s success and will fight to hold on to the home-grown player who has been nothing short of sensational this season.
Pressley knows that Wilson’s 19-goal tally – with ten more games left to get a few more – will attract a host of clubs for his services in the summer, but the City manager said: “I want him to stay because I want us to have a team full of energy and passion for playing for this club next year, and your own players give you that.
“So I’ll certainly not be looking for any offers for Callum and we don’t want to sell Callum because we want to move forward again next year.
“So I hope we can keep him because there’s no doubt, and I have said all along, how important strikers are to a team, especially when you play with two strikers the way we play. They’re vital.”
The club have consistently admitted that they’d have to listen to ridiculous offers for any of their players, but Pressley knows money can’t always buy a suitable replacement for talent like Wilson.
“If we were to get a really high bid for Cal it’s not the fact that you have the money, it’s being able to attract a player of Callum's quality in League One,” he said.
“And that’s why developing your own players allows you to sometimes develop players who are better than you can attract to your club in League One.
"And Callum is a good example of that because it would be very difficult for us to go and sign another Callum Wilson because the other Callum Wilsons want to play at a higher level. So that’s the difficulty with replacing him.”
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Callum Wilson
View gallery
Willson goes into tomorrow’s clash with automatic promotion-chasing Brentford at Griffin Park looking to hit the 20-goal milestone. And after hitting four in his last four games, few would bet against him achieving that mark.
“I’m delighted with the way he’s come back from his injury,” said Pressley.
“He typifies what I want at this club because although he’s scoring goals and creating chances, his determination and work-rate in terms of playing his part for the team shows that he’s a very selfless player.
“He gives himself to the team and, as a result of that, he gets the rewards. He leads by example and gives the whole team a lift.
“There’s no doubt that since he’s been back we have looked a much more potent team again.
“I was looking at the stats from the weekend again and our chances were up at 23/24 again which reflected our early season stats.
"And in terms of playing the game more in the opposition half we are doing that more now because Callum pushes teams back with his speed. So he’s changed that for us and he’s a huge part of what we want to create.”
He added: “I thought he and Nathan Delfouneso got a good combination in the final half an hour against Port Vale on Sunday, so building a strike partner relationship with Callum is going to be really important in the short and longer term.”