Although Wilson already seems to have a knack for it, scoring goals does not come without a decent slice of pressure.
However, Critchley has assured him there is no spotlight on him from the dugout.
“There is no pressure from us, he’s just got to go out and play his game,” the former Blackpool boss said. “He’s been fantastic in the last few weeks.
“He’s a willing learner with a thirst for information and he wants to improve. We can help him with that, while James has just got to be himself.”
Something which is easier said than done sometimes, but Wilson has a wise head on young shoulders, and Clarke has echoed Critchley’s plaudits.
He previously spoke of his enjoyment at going away with the youth national teams to play with his pals.
Fellow Hearts academy product Adam Forrester is with Scotland Under-21s this week. Wilson has just bypassed that age group altogether.
Unsurprisingly, he watches fellow striker Lawrence Shankland like a hawk in training, “trying to feed off him”.
The captain will not be with him this week after failing to make Clarke’s cut, but there will be a familiar face in his “mentor” Craig Gordon, who made his international debut nearly three years before Wilson was born.
“He’s obviously got invaluable experience,” he said of the 42-year-old goalkeeper.
“He asks me questions, I ask him questions. We’re just feeding information off each other; he’s really important to me.”
Wilson’s interactions at the other end of the age scale are more visual than audible.
“In school, the little young ones come up asking for pictures which is quite cool, and a bit weird,” he added. “It’s just different now, I guess.”
It is already different and if the pace of his progress continues, people asking for selfies is only going to become a more regular occurrence for the boy who could be tasked with solving Scotland’s striker problem.
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