Forgotten Liverpool wonderkid once tipped for the Golden Boy award finds new club in League Two | OneFootball

Ben Woodburn has signed for Salford City in League Two just two years after leaving Liverpool permanently.

Woodburn joins the Manchester side after his contract at Championship side Preston North End was not renewed at the end of last season.

He joins the club who are famously owned by several players from Manchester United’s history known as the Class of 92 and they have been attempting to get Salford City into League One for many years now.

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The hope is that Woodburn, once viewed as a star in the making, can light that spark for them in this upcoming campaign after they finished in a miserable 20th place last season just nine points above the drop zone.

Woodburn's Liverpool breakthrough

When Jurgen Klopp took over at Liverpool in 2015 he was insistent on seeing what the academy had to offer him. He had already been at the club for over five years by this point as he joined when he was seven years old.

Woodburn was fast-tracked from the under-16s to the under-18 which saw him get the chance to start training with the first team at least once a week.

In those sessions, he caught the eye of Klopp who involved him in the first-team plans in the 2016-17 pre-season before, alongside now vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, he was offered a new contract.

Woodburn makes Liverpool history

His senior debut came in November of that year, coming off the bench against Sunderland in the Premier League but just a few days after that he pencilled his name into the history books of the club as he fired the ball into the back of the net at Anfield.

This was in the League Cup against Leeds United in front of the Kop at just 17 years, 1 month and 14 days old and he became Liverpool’s youngest-ever goal scorer.

As if the highs couldn’t get any better for him during that season they just carried on coming as he was called up to the Wales squad in March but didn’t get the chance to make his debut.

After several more senior appearances for Liverpool, he was even nominated for the Golden Boy award but his next biggest moment came in September for Wales in a World Cup qualifier.

He was thrown on by Chris Coleman as they were desperate for a victory over Austria and with 15 minutes to go the 17-year-old plunged a shot into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.

The crowd went wild and everyone was sure that he would go and kick on at Liverpool to be a star during his second full campaign.

Woodburn slips down the leagues

However, it wasn’t to be as he only made two senior appearances during the season but he was being managed by Steven Gerrard, who is now in Saudi Arabia, in the academy so all hope wasn’t lost.

A loan deal to Sheffield United in the Championship seemed to be a positive step for his career trajectory but he was recalled due to not getting enough game time and spent the second half of the season in the Liverpool under-23’s which seemed to be the nail in the coffin for any chance of a senior comeback.

After three seasons on the bounce out on loan to Oxford United, Blackpool and Hearts his time at The Reds came to an end as he joined Preston on a free.

Even though he made 64 appearances for them he only scored three goals for the club so now the forgotten man who is still in the record books at Liverpool is hoping to get some success at Salford City which is more than possible as he is only just 24 years old.

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