Benjamin Luke Woodburn ( give birth 15 October 1999 ) is a professional football player who plays as a midfielder for scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian, on loanword from Premier League cabaret Liverpool and the Wales national team. Born in Nottingham, Woodburn joined the football academy of Liverpool when he was seven years honest-to-god. closely a decade belated, upon making his senior debut in 2016, he became the third-youngest actor always to play for the club and, in good his second appearance, broke Michael Owen ‘s long-standing record to become Liverpool ‘s youngest goalscorer. He subsequently went on loan to Sheffield United but was restricted to just eight appearances before returning to Liverpool, where he was part of the club ‘s UEFA Champions League winning team in 2019, although he took no separate in the competition himself. The succeed season, he joined Oxford United on loanword.

Despite being born in England, Woodburn elected to represent Wales at international level and became the nation ‘s second young goalscorer behind Gareth Bale when he scored on his senior debut in 2017 .

Club career [edit ]

liverpool [edit ]

early on career [edit ]

Born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Woodburn was raised in Tattenhall, Cheshire and played both cricket and football from a young age. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] He joined Liverpool ‘s academy at under-7 level where he steadily progressed through the youth ranks, leading to early academy director Frank McParland identifying him as one of the brightest prospects at the club. [ 7 ] [ 5 ] During his educate, 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 exploitation, the club arranged for a driver to transport him every sidereal day from training back to his base in Tattenhall. [ 8 ] When he was 15 years previous, Woodburn left his high school, Bishop Heber High School and was fast-tracked from Liverpool ‘s under-16s to the under-18s where his rapid development saw him included in Liverpool ‘s “ Futures Group ”, a program which afforded the club ‘s most talented young players a hebdomadally opportunity to train with then first-team coach, Pep Lijnders. [ 9 ] [ 10 ]

2016–17 season [edit ]

Woodburn playing for Liverpool in 2016 Having impressed first-team coach Jürgen Klopp during these educate sessions, Woodburn was handed his non-competitive introduction during the 2016–17 pre-season in a 1–0 winnings over Tranmere Rovers. [ 11 ] He came off the bench in Liverpool ‘s future catch to score one and assist another for Roberto Firmino in a 5–0 friendly acquire over Fleetwood Town. [ 12 ] Woodburn then, along with Kevin Stewart and mate academy graduate Trent Alexander-Arnold, signed his inaugural professional narrow with Liverpool on 8 November 2016. [ 13 ] He made his senior debut for Liverpool on 26 November, coming on as a 92nd-minute substitute for Georginio Wijnaldum in a 2–0 Premier League victory over Sunderland. [ 14 ] Upon doing therefore, Woodburn became Liverpool ‘s third-youngest debutant of all time at the old age of 17 years and 42 days, and the baseball club ‘s second new in the Premier League, behind Jack Robinson. [ 15 ] Three days by and by, he became Liverpool ‘s youngest goalscorer at the historic period of 17 years and 45 days when he came off the bench to score in an EFL Cup quarter-final gain over Leeds United, bettering Michael Owen ‘s record by 98 days. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] Following his rapid exploitation at Liverpool, both Sky Sports and The Guardian named Woodburn as one of the exceed young players to watch in 2017. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] On 8 January 2017, he became the then-youngest player to represent the club in the FA Cup when he started in a 0–0 draw with Plymouth Argyle. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] His first start in the league followed on 4 April in a 2–1 away gloat over Stoke City which saw him become the third-youngest musician to start for Liverpool in the Premier League earned run average behind Owen and Jordon Ibe. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] The come week he was nominated for the 2017 european Golden Boy award, but was beaten by french advancing Kylian Mbappé. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] On 9 May, Woodburn won Liverpool ‘s Academy Player of the Season award following a crusade which saw him score eight goals in Premier League 2 and break into the beginning team. [ 28 ] [ 29 ] He was besides belated nominated for the Premier League 2 Player of the Season award aboard Alexander-Arnold, though the award was ultimately won by Swansea City ‘s Oli McBurnie. [ 30 ] [ 31 ]

2017–18 season [edit ]

The following temper, Liverpool ‘s academy passenger car Steven Gerrard named Woodburn as captain of the under-19 side for the club ‘s UEFA Youth League political campaign, a contest which ran parallel to the season ‘s UEFA Champions League. [ 32 ] He made precisely one senior appearance, as a substitute, [ 33 ] during the first half of the season but signed a newfangled long-run cope with Liverpool in October and was named BBC Wales Young Sportsman of the year in December. [ 34 ] [ 35 ] [ 36 ] Woodburn continued to represent the youth and reserve sides at the startle of the second half of the season. On 21 February 2018, he scored once and assisted another as Liverpool beat Manchester United ‘s U19 english 2–0 to qualify for the quarter finals of the UEFA Youth League. [ 37 ] There, the cabaret was eliminated by Manchester City. [ 38 ] He made his second and only other senior appearance for the temper on 13 May, coming on as a former stand-in for Mohamed Salah in a 4–0 league acquire over Brighton. [ 33 ] On 1 July, he and club teammates Alexander-Arnold and Herbie Kane were named on the shortlist for the 2018 Golden Boy award. [ 39 ]

2018–19 temper : loanword to Sheffield United

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On 31 July 2018, Woodburn signed on a season-long loan with Championship side Sheffield United. [ 40 ] He made his debut for the baseball club four days late, coming off the bench for David McGoldrick in a 2–1 loss to Swansea. [ 41 ] His first start followed on 14 August in a League Cup tie against Hull City where, with the scores level after regulation time, the match progressed to a penalty gunfight. [ 41 ] Woodburn converted his spot kick but Sheffield United were ultimately defeated after his erstwhile Liverpool teammate Kevin Stewart scored the winning punishment for Hull. [ 42 ] He struggled for crippled clock time during the first one-half of the temper, however, compounded by an ankle injury sustained in December and by the midway point of the campaign had lone made eight appearances for the club. [ 41 ] [ 43 ] He was subsequently recalled from his loan by Liverpool where he spent the remainder of the temper, making sporadic appearances for the club ‘s U23 side. [ 44 ] [ 45 ] Woodburn was besides included in the side ‘s team for the knockout phases of the Champions League, which Liverpool went on to win after a 2–0 victory over Tottenham in the final, and won a winner ‘s decoration despite not featuring in the rival for the season. [ 46 ] [ 47 ]

2019–20 season : lend to Oxford United [edit ]

On 30 July 2019, Woodburn signed with League One side Oxford United on a season-long loanword. [ 48 ] [ 49 ] He made his Oxford debut in a 1–1 draw at Sunderland on the hatchway day of the 2019–20 season, and assisted Tariqe Fosu for his team ‘s goal. [ 50 ] On 24 August, he scored his first finish for the baseball club, opening the score in a 3–1 kill to Bristol Rovers. [ 51 ] His crusade was once again disrupted by wound, however, after he suffered a break cram in his foot in October which ruled him out for a number of weeks. Woodburn returned to Merseyside to recover but, on his concluding train seance before reuniting with Oxford in December, suffered a “ carbon copy ” of the wound in his other foot ; an injury head passenger car Karl Robinson later revealed stemmed from the peculiar manner in which the actor yield weight on his feet. [ 52 ] [ 53 ] [ 54 ]

2020–21 season : loan to Blackpool [edit ]

On 16 October 2020, Woodburn joined Blackpool on loan until 17 January. He linked up again with the former under-23s head coach at Liverpool, nowadays director at Blackpool, Neil Critchley. [ 55 ]

2021–22 season : loan to Hearts [edit ]

On 23 August 2021, Woodburn signed with scots Premiership club Heart of Midlothian on a season-long loanword. [ 56 ]

International career [edit ]

Until his senior external debut, Woodburn was eligible to represent both Wales, through his parental grandfather, and England. [ 57 ] During his early teens he attended a trail camp with the England schoolboy ‘ team and was late offered an under-16 call-up by England in August 2014. He rejected the call-up and chose to remain in the Wales frame-up at the time. [ 57 ] [ 58 ] After his club debut with Liverpool in November 2016, it was reported that England remained hopeful of convincing Woodburn to switch his international commitment despite previously being rebuffed. The possibility was ended in September the follow year when he made his senior external debut for Wales in a competitive fixture. [ 59 ] [ 60 ]

youth [edit ]

Woodburn has played for Wales up to U19 flush and was inaugural called up to train at one of the nation ‘s regional development centres at Dragon Park when he was 13. [ 61 ] He played for Wales U15s in two games against Poland in March 2014, scored a hat-trick for the U16 side against Northern Ireland the adopt year and then captained the U17 team against Greece in 2016. [ 10 ] [ 57 ] [ 62 ] Later that year, he represented the U19 side in their UEFA european Under-19 Championship reservation matches and scored a brace in a 6–2 win over Luxembourg. [ 63 ]

senior [edit ]

On 16 March 2017, Woodburn was called up by head coach Chris Coleman to the Wales senior team for the beginning time, aged 17, for the nation ‘s World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland. [ 5 ] He remained an idle substitute, however, as Wales played out a 0–0 guide in Dublin. [ 64 ] He made his senior debut on 2 September, coming on as a second-half substitute for Tom Lawrence and scoring a 25-yard hit in a 1–0 acquire against Austria. [ 65 ] [ 66 ] In doing so, he became Wales ‘ second new goalscorer behind Gareth Bale and kept the nation within reach of reservation. He then came off the bench to set up the winning goal in the future catch, a 2-0 victory over Moldova. [ 67 ] Woodburn featured regularly from the bench towards the back end of the qualification campaign as Wales ultimately fell two points short of a play-off spot. [ 68 ] [ 69 ]

career statistics [edit ]

baseball club [edit ]

As of match played 19 February 2021
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Liverpool 2016–17[14] Premier League 5 0 3 0 1 1 9 1
2017–18[33] Premier League 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
2018–19[41] Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020–21[70] Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 6 0 3 0 2 1 0 0 11 1
Sheffield United (loan) 2018–19[41] Championship 7 0 0 0 1 0 8 0
Oxford United (loan) 2019–20[71] League One 11 1 0 0 2 0 3[a] 0 16 1
Blackpool (loan) 2020–21[70] League One 10 0 1 0 0 0 2[b] 0 13 0
Career total 34 1 4 0 5 1 5 0 48 2

International [edit ]

As of match played 20 March 2019[72]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Wales 2017 6 1
2018 3 0
2019 1 1
2021 1 0
Total 11 2

International goals [edit ]

As of match played 20 March 2019. Wales score listed first, score column indicates score after each Woodburn goal.[72]

Honours [edit ]

Wales

Individual

References [edit ]

  • Profile at the Liverpool F.C. website
  • Ben Woodburn at Soccerbase Edit this at Wikidata