Wales ‘to pick Ben on merit’
WALES boss Chris Coleman is not worried about losing Liverpool hotshot Ben Woodburn to England and will not give him a cap of convenience against the Republic of Ireland.
Woodburn, 17, will line up alongside Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen in the Wales senior squad for the first time for the World Cup qualifier in Dublin next Friday.
Born and raised in England, but Wales-qualified through his mother’s grandfather, Woodburn has been in the Welsh system since he was 13.
He became Liverpool’s youngest goalscorer at the age of 17 years and 45 days when he found the Leeds net in the EFL Cup this season and has made seven first-team appearances.
That has made him the target for Gareth Southgate’s England age-group scouts, but Coleman is adamant he has been picked in his 23-man squad on form alone.
“We won’t cap him because we are worried about him playing for anyone else – we expect him to be a Wales player going forward,” said Coleman. “Everyone is telling us to cap him to keep him. But that’s not the way to do it. I’m not looking at this game as a chance to cap him, I’m just looking for the best squad.
“If Ben wanted to go and play for England there is nothing we can do about it. They aren’t our players, they are contracted to their clubs and can make their own decisions.”
Uncapped Joe Walsh of MK Dons also joins the squad and Coleman has included two other rising young stars in Ipswich striker Tom Lawrence and Barnsley’s Tom Bradshaw.
“I haven’t been getting as excited as everyone else about Ben because his progress has been no surprise to me,” added Coleman. “I’ve been looking at him for the past five years.” YESTERDAY, he rang Theo Walcott on his 28th birthday to tell him he was axed from the England squad. On Monday, he will tell those he has picked that in the past they have not been good enough.
Gareth Southgate, football’s Mr Nice Guy, just got tough.
“Yes, Theo argued me,” said Southgate.
“Quite rightly, he said: ‘But I’m one of the leading goalscorers in the league.’
“I don’t expect him to be happy. But I’ve got to make decisions and it was the right thing to call him to talk that through, even though the timing on his birthday probably wasn’t great.”
Walcott found his argument was one that fell on deaf ears, and there will be no place to hide at St George’s Park on Monday when Southgate tells his squad to buck up their ideas ahead of a friendly against Germany on Wednesday, followed by Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Lithuania.
Previous bosses have often set out by complaining expectations are too high. Southgate, above, says achievements have been too low. “One of the things I want to talk to the players about is the fact that we don’t look at with
Theo argued with me – that’s good