Rangers make new approach for Woodburn

STEVEN GERRARD has asked Liverpool to consider sending teenage forward Ben Woodburn to Rangers on loan for next season.

The Ibrox boss has made a fresh approach to his former Anfield paymasters regarding the availability of the 18-year-old Welsh starlet as he continues the squad overhaul that is set to see Umar Sadiq become his eighth signing of the summer.

Roma striker Sadiq is on the verge of completing a seasonlong loan move to Ibrox and the 21-year-old Nigerian could join his new team-mates as early as this evening as they prepare for the final few days of training at the club’s pre-season camp in Spain.

Gerrard wants Woodburn to be next through the door but he may be forced to wait a few weeks while Liverpool weigh up the best option for the player’s development.

Already a full internationalist who scored on his debut for Wales last September, Woodburn has made a handful

of first-team appearances for Jurgen Klopp but the Anfield club are mulling over potential loan destinations for the youngster.

Woodburn was a key player for Gerrard’s Liverpool Under-19s side as they progressed to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Youth League last term and the Ibrox boss is now seeking to convince Liverpool that a year in the pressurised environment of Scottish football would accelerate his growth.

The striking department is the latest area of his squad to get a makeover and the arrival of Sadiq, and possibly Woodburn, will place a new question mark over the future of Alfredo Morelos.

Morelos, 22, was linked with a move to China in the January transfer window and could yet be moved on for a profit on the £1.2million Rangers paid HJK Helsinki for his signature during Pedro Caixinha’s reign.

Sadiq joins Allan McGregor, Connor Goldson, Jon Flanagan, Nikola Katic, Scott Arfield, Ovie Ejaria and Jamie Murphy in signing for Rangers this summer.