EVEN AS A KID, BEN WAS ONE EL OF A PLAYER
We took him on a school tour to Spain and they wanted to sign him up says Welsh wonder’s former gym teacher
Georgia v Wales Qualifying Group D, Friday, kick-off 5pm BEN WOODBURN is such an exceptional talent he was nearly snapped up by top Spanish sides before he was a teenager, according to his old PE teacher.
And Mark Lindley, of Bishop Heber High School in Cheshire, says he saw enough in the Liverpool youngster’s make-up to know that he won’t be fazed by the prospect of replacing crocked superstar Gareth Bale for Wales.
Real Madrid ace Bale was yesterday ruled out of the crunch World Cup qualifiers against Georgia on Friday and the Republic of Ireland on Monday.
It means freshly-crowned Wales young player of the year Woodburn could be promoted from the bench by boss Chris Coleman.
The 17-year-old is one of the hottest properties in British football after a stunning 12 months.
He displaced Michael Owen (right) as Liverpool’s youngest scorer with a goal in front of the Kop against Leeds in the League Cup last November aged 17 and 45 days.
His meteoric rise has continued this season – he grabbed a stunning goal after coming off the bench to make his Wales debut against Austria last month.
Now the teenager, who turns 18 this month, could be Welsh boss Coleman’s main hope of a place in next summer’s World Cup finals in Russia.
Woodburn has made only four starts in 10 senior Liverpool appearances but his old PE master insists he is ready to carry Welsh hopes on his young shoulders.
“He is an exceptional talent and is not fazed by any situation he faces,” said Lindley. “He just adapts to any environment.
“It is a new world out there but Ben is going to take every opportunity he has.”
Woodburn’s remarkable progress is no shock to Lindley, who first set eyes on him as an eightyear-old (right) at a primary-school football tournament held at Bishop Heber, before later teaching him as a 12-year-old.
Lindley reflected: “I knew Ben when he was eight because of the school sports events we held and also because of my previous involvement at Liverpool’s academy. Even at that age you could see he was something special, an exceptional talent.
“He was always a very quiet boy when he was at school but it was a different world when you saw him on the pitch.
“He could score from anywhere, often scoring four, five or six goals a game from all over the pitch.
“Straight away you knew there was something special about him.
“At school he played in central midfield and I remember he came on tour with us to Barcelona, aged 12. We were training with Espanyol and Barcelona and he didn’t look out of place.
“I remember the Espanyol coaches thought he was something special. They wanted to sign him.” Woodburn grew up in the Cheshire village of Tattenhall, where he played for the local football and cricket teams.
After joining Liverpool at Under-Seven level, he made his Under-18s debut during the 2015-2016 campaign – at the age of just 15 he ended the season joint-top scorer.
Woodburn, who has a maternal Welsh grandfather, has also played for Wales since U-15s and captained their U-17s.
Many English fans have expressed surprise that the starlet was not signed up by the Three Lions given that he was born and bred in Chester.
But Lindley insisted: “He was always going to get more opportunities with Wales and has been in the Welsh system a number of years, moving up through the age groups. The environment was very good and relaxed for Ben to come through
“To have someone like that from the school is an inspiration for the students to see what they can achieve. Both myself and the school are immensely proud of what he has achieved.” On the evidence so far there will be plenty more to come from the Kop teen.
Woodburn is such a natural sportsman that Lindley says he could even have played cricket professionally. But right now Liverpool and Wales fans will say he definitely made the right choice.