Derby County: Liverpool loanee will never be forgotten for free kick antics | OneFootball

The winger scored 18 goals during his season at the Rams, including some thunderous free kicks.

Derby County came ever so close to a return to the Premier League in the 2018/19 campaign, losing the play-off final to Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley to keep them in the Championship.

Under the guidance of legendary Chelsea and England midfielder, Frank Lampard, the Rams finished sixth in the league, before producing one of the greatest ever play-off comebacks against Leeds United in the semi-final.

Nevertheless, it was another season of eventual failure for the East Midlands-based club. However, supporters got to witness three of the best loanees to have played in the second tier.

Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount both arrived from Lampard's former team to help with their push for promotion, but the third of those players to join for the season, Harry Wilson, perhaps provided the most memorable moments.

Moving to Derby from Liverpool, the then 21-year-old was exceptional, and defied belief on multiple occasions with his fantastic left foot, unbelievable skills and near-perfect free kick technique.

Wilson's free kicks will live long in the memory of supporters

Wilson enjoyed a very good loan spell at Hull City in the second half of the 2017/18 season, but he was still an after-thought when it came to Liverpool's first team, and so more time away from Anfield was in order.

However, much to the delight of fans of both the Premier League and Championship clubs, the winger proved to be a game-changer and just three days after scoring his first goal in black-and-white at home to Brentford, he added a second with a wonderstrike.

Derby were drawn against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup third round following victories over both Oldham Athletic and Hull. But, it was in their clash at Old Trafford where they truly started to show their ability, and Wilson put his name up in lights.

Despite going 1-0 down early on, the Rams fought back, and were awarded a free kick just before the hour mark, over 30 yards from goal. Although it seemed an impossible task, the Rams' Welsh winger struck an unstoppable shot into the top corner with a knuckling strike that deceived United goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

Lampard's side took the lead just before full-time before the home side equalised in the final minute, taking the game to penalties where the Championship side were perfect, scoring every spotkick to win the shootout 8-7.

But this was not the end of Wilson's free kick heroics. The loanee fired in four more over the course of the season, with his strikes against Sheffield United and Stoke City extremely similar to one another.

He had a tendency to catch opposition goalkeepers out at the far post, and it was something that became a trademark, with anticipation growing every time he put the ball down outside the box.

Wilson was not just limited to free kicks

While his free kick technique was widely acclaimed, Wilson was able to score in plenty of other situations, and was a key reason behind Derby's success under Lampard.

He formed an excellent partnership with Mount, and the two quickly showed why they were so highly thought of at their parent clubs.

Coming to a new team at just 21 could have been extremely daunting, but Wilson showed no signs of nerves and often took games by the scruff of the neck and made them his own. Braces against Brentford, Swansea City and QPR earned the Rams seven crucial points, all at different stages of the campaign, that allowed them to finish 6th in the league - just a point ahead of Middlesbrough.

Derby were extremely lucky to have had a player of the current Fulham ace's quality in the Championship, and he was able to start his development into the player that he is today at Pride Park.

His parting gift of promotion unfortunately never came, but he did play a huge role in that famous night at Elland Road against Leeds in the play-offs, picking up a goal and an assist as Lampard's side came back from two goals down to earn their place at Wembley.

Some sections of the Derby fanbase will still look out for their 2018/19 loanees over five years after they left, and Wilson left plenty of memories to reminisce about during his short time in DE24.