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Ben Woodburn

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Ben Woodburn
File:Ben Woodburn Liverpool U23 Leicester U23.jpg
Woodburn playing for Liverpool U23s
Personal information
Full name Benjamin Woodburn
Date of birth (1999-10-15) 15 October 1999 (age 25)
Place of birth Chester, England[1]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Liverpool
Number 58
Youth career
2007–2016 Liverpool
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016– Liverpool 1 (0)
International career‡
2014 Wales U15 2 (0)
2015 Wales U16 1 (3)
2014–2016 Wales U17 8 (1)
2016– Wales U19 3 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 00:40, 27 November 2016 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 00:40, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Benjamin "Ben" Woodburn (born 15 October 1999) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Liverpool. He became Liverpool's third youngest player in history upon making his senior debut in November 2016 and on his second appearance became the club's youngest ever goalscorer.

Born in England to a Welsh family, Woodburn currently represents the Wales under-19 team and previously captained his nation at the under-17 level. He remains eligible for both the England and Wales senior national teams.

Club career

Liverpool

Born in Chester to a Welsh family, Woodburn was raised in Tattenhall and played both cricket and football from a young age.[2] He joined Liverpool's academy at the under-7 level.[3] During his schooling, Liverpool agreed to a request from Woodburn's parents that he should stay at home rather than in Rainhill, which was closer to the academy in Kirkby. In order to facilitate his development, the club arranged for a driver to transport Woodburn every day from training back to his home in Tattenhall.[4]

When he was 15 years old, Woodburn was fast tracked from Liverpool's under-16s to the under-18s and his rapid development saw him included in Liverpool's "Futures Group", a programme that affords the club's most talented youngsters an opportunity to train with first-team coach Pep Lijnders once a week.[5]

Having impressed first-team manager Jürgen Klopp during training sessions, Woodburn was handed his non-competitive debut during 2016–17 pre-season in a 1–0 win over Tranmere Rovers.[6] He came off the bench in Liverpool's next match to score one and assist another for Roberto Firmino in a 5–0 friendly win over Fleetwood Town.[7] On 8 November 2016, Woodburn, along with fellow academy graduate Trent Alexander-Arnold, signed his first professional contract with Liverpool.[8]

Woodburn made his senior debut for Liverpool on 26 November, coming on as a 92nd-minute substitute for Georginio Wijnaldum in Liverpool's 2–0 Premier League victory over Sunderland.[9] Upon doing so, Woodburn became Liverpool's third youngest debutant of all time at the age of 17 years and 42 days, and the second youngest ever in the Premier League, behind Jack Robinson.[10] Three days later, on 29 November, Woodburn became Liverpool's youngest ever goalscorer at the age of 17 years and 45 days when he came off the bench to score in an EFL Cup quarter-final match against Leeds United, beating Michael Owen's record by 98 days.[11][12][13]

International career

Woodburn is eligible to represent Wales, through his maternal grandfather, as well as his native England.[14] Woodburn was offered an under-16 call up by England in August 2014 but chose to remain in the Wales setup at that time.[14] After his senior club debut in November 2016 it was reported that England remained hopeful of convincing Woodburn to switch his international allegiance.[15]

Woodburn has played for Wales up to U19 level and was first called up to train at one of the nation's regional development centres when he was 13. He played for Wales U15s in two games against Poland in March 2014 and captained the U17 team against Greece in 2016.[14][5] He represented the U19 side in their UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification matches later that year and scored a brace in a 6–2 win over Luxembourg.[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 29 November 2016[17]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Liverpool 2016–17 Premier League 1 0 0 0 1 1 — — 2 1
Career total 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 1

Honours

Records

Liverpool

References

  1. ^ Abbandonato, Paul (15 July 2016). "Why do Liverpool FC rave about Ben Woodburn and could England poach Welsh wonder dubbed 'new Aaron Ramsey'?". Wales Online. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  2. ^ Triggs, David (30 November 2016). "Who is Ben Woodburn? The Tattenhall teenager who became a Liverpool FC record-breaker". Chester Chronicle.
  3. ^ Mundy, Ben (30 November 2016). "Who is Liverpool record-breaker Ben Woodburn?". BBC.
  4. ^ Hughes, Simon (30 November 2016). "Liverpool vs Leeds match report: Ben Woodburn enjoys night to remember but Garry Monk's men go down fighting". The Independent. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  5. ^ a b Pearce, James (28 January 2016). "Who is Liverpool FC teenager Ben Woodburn?". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  6. ^ Twelves, Ben (8 July 2016). "Tranmere Rovers 0–1 Liverpool: 5 things we learned from the pre-season opener". This is Anfield. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  7. ^ "Ruthless Reds Crush Fleetwood". Soccer Laduma. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  8. ^ Carroll, James (8 November 2016). "Trio commit long-term futures to LFC by signing new deals". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  9. ^ "Liverpool fend off Sunderland but suffer Philippe Coutinho blow". Eurosport. 26 November 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  10. ^ Gorst, Paul (26 November 2016). "Ben Woodburn becomes the third youngest player in Liverpool's history after making debut against Sunderland". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  11. ^ Jurejko, Jonathan (29 November 2016). "Liverpool 2–0 Leeds United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  12. ^ Hunter, Andy (29 November 2016). "Ben Woodburn sets record as Liverpool break Leeds to reach EFL Cup last four". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  13. ^ a b Carroll, James (29 November 2016). "Liverpool FC's youngest ever first-team goalscorers". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  14. ^ a b c Wathan, Chris (30 November 2016). "What makes English-born Ben Woodburn Welsh? The Liverpool FC star's complicated situation fully explained". Wales Online. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  15. ^ Pearce, James (29 November 2016). "England hoping Liverpool hero Ben Woodburn will switch international allegiance". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  16. ^ "Ben Woodburn: Liverpool youngster inspired by Gareth Bale & Aaron Ramsey". BBC Sport. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  17. ^ "Ben Woodburn". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
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