Liverpool starlet Ben Woodburn has joined Oxford United on loan, where Karl Robinson repeated what Chris Wilder said last season. Now he needs to deliver.
We’ve been here before. Last season Reds up and down the land were delighted with what Sheffield United boss Wilder had to say when they snapped up Woodburn. Now Robinson has trotted out a very similar line.
According to talkSPORT, the Blades boss talked about Woodburn as ‘an exciting young talent’ and reckoned the move was ‘a good fit for both clubs’. Wrong.
And now Robinson has mentioned how ‘excited’ and ‘delighted’ he is to bring the Wales international to United and praised Jurgen Klopp for allowing them the privileged of signing the 19-year-old, said the Evening Standard.
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In other words, we’ve been here before and watched Woodburn lose a whole season of his development when he wasn’t played.
It’s a tricky line to tread because Liverpool are placing a degree of trust in Robinson and Oxford that they’ll give the starlet enough minutes to aid his development as a footballer, but the club still need to win games and if Woodburn isn’t the best way to do that they won’t pick him.
The League One season starts on Saturday when United play Sunderland and while this may be a few days too early for the 19-year-old to feature, you’d expect to see him start games fairly soon.
It’s not an exact science but the drop down to the third tier of English football appears to have been taken in order to guarantee Woodburn game time. Hull City were linked with the forward, said the Wales Online, and those at Liverpool have chosen to accept Oxford’s offer.
The division is tough. The youngster will be playing a lot, against physical opponents who won’t care how young he was when he scored his first goal for the Reds.