Meet Stanley Wilson, the Harambee Stars prodigy who earned a call up after two FKFPL games

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FOOTBALL Meet Stanley Wilson, the Harambee Stars prodigy who earned a call up after two FKFPL games

Mark Kinyanjui 07:36 - 06.09.2023

Wilson has taken to the FKFPL like a duck to water since joining Kariobangi Sharks from Darajani Gogo earlier this month.

When new Kariobangi Sharks midfielder Stanley Wilson started the fresh FKFPL season against Kenya Police FC, he certainly could not have envisioned being called up to the national team for their friendly matches against Qatar and South Sudan.

However, a very assured performance at the heart of midfield with his nonchalant composure on the ball and his hawk-eyed love for the progressive through ball saw him named in the Team of the Week, before following that performance up with a decent outing against Tusker a week later.

This prompted Kenya head coach Engin Firat to add him as a late inclusion to his original 25-man squad for the trip to Qatar on Wednesday.

As he anticipates starting what will hopefully be the first of a long international career, the 18-year-old, who believes he is ‘the best of the best’ is thankful for everyone who has played a part in achieving his ‘dream’.

“There are many ambitions I have. It is a dream come true first for me. I would like to congratulate the technical team and myself for all the hard work to reach there,” Wilson told members of the press during a press conference.

“I know I have got many, many other ambitions but for now, I just have to work harder and harder, making others proud to be Kenyan.

“I think from the start with hard work, endurance, praying and working, I think it is easier for me to do anything. I know I can do it. I am the best of the best.”

Just over six months ago, Wilson was playing in the National Super League for Darajani Gogo until he joined Sharks earlier this month. He certainly could not have envisioned being called up to the national team with just two FKFPL games under his belt.

“To be honest, I did not see this coming but it is an opportunity to be in the national team soon cause everyone is asking ‘How has it become?’. But (because of) my work, I think I deserve it.”

Wilson has found it very easy to adapt with the senior players in the camp captained by Michael Olunga, saying that ‘they are normal people’ who are ‘very generous’ and welcoming.

“Being a young player in the national team, it is easy to adapt because they are my fellow Kenyans. They are very generous. They are just good people and very normal just like us it is just that the difference is the age gap but it is all good for us.”

Wilson comes from a family where football is well engrained into their DNA, as his father Jack Omondi also played for Harambee Stars back in the day.

He describes his father as a big inspiration for his career, as well as former Tottenham Hotspur and Kenya captain Victor Wanyama.

“There are very many talented players in the national team. I have been inspired by many, but first is my dad Jack Omondi Bare. He was a national team player.

“But because I am a midfielder, we have seen lots and lots of midfielders, talented ones, but most of all, Victor Wanyama.”

The midfielder will however not face Qatar or South Sudan after Firat failed to include him in the final squad for the friendlies.