HAMBLE Club have pulled off a summer coup by signing prolific Wessex League scorer Sam Wilson.

But, with the best will in the world, the Monks will be pleased to see the back of him!

A former Portsmouth and Eastleigh youngster, Wilson excelled two seasons ago with Salisbury, scoring 40 goals in their march to the Sydenhams Premier title and the semi-finals of the FA Vase.

A move back to Winchester City followed, but he sat out much of last season injured, his only real run of games coming on a dual-signing with Blackfield & Langley where he netted five times in 12 appearances.

“Sam wasn’t someone we’d planned on signing, he was injured most of last year, but he's in good shape now and you can’t turn down a player who’s scored 40 goals in a season for Salisbury,” said Hamble co-boss Ben Kneller.

“Hopefully we can get out of Sam what Salisbury did and, if we do, I don’t expect him to be here for long.

“If he’s scored 20 goals by Christmas and Louis Langdown (AFC Totton manager), Steve Claridge (Salisbury boss) or someone like that was interested, we’d let him go and I wouldn’t begrudge him.

“If someone comes in for him, we’ll waive the seven-day notice of approach.

“I’ve told Sam straight that if he’s not gone by Christmas, it means he’s not playing to his full potential.”

Given 22-year-old Wilson’s pedigree, the assumption is that Hamble Club, the newly-promoted Sydenhams One champions, have pushed the financial boat out to sign him.

Not true, according to Kneller.

“Everyone will talk about Sam costing massive money, but it’s not the case,” he said.

“He was available, he scores goals and he wants to play football. He could have gone elsewhere, but it would probably have been to sit on the bench unfortunately.

“He’s not on contract with us and he’s not on big money.

“Much as we’d love to win the league, we’re not chucking bundles at it. We want to be known as a side that plays good football and has a reputation for helping players achieve their potential.

“If Sam does go on to higher things, it means we’ve done our job and he’s done his job. We’ll have shown people that we can bring players on and help them.”

Wilson is the second new player to have signed for the Monks this summer, following attacking midfielder Jack McCarthy into ‘The Abbey’.

A former Sholing youngster, McCarthy has arrived from Whitchurch United who sadly lost their fight for Sydenhams Premier survival.

“We tried to sign Jack last year but he wanted to stay loyal to Carl Bennett at Whitchurch,”  Kneller explained. "We're excited to get him."