Aston Villa have failed in their move to sign Liverpool attacker Ben Woodburn despite being in pole position to sign the Wales international over the weekend, according to Telegraph reporter John Percy.
The reliable journalist claimed via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday that morning that Woodburn, 18, is undergoing a medical at Sheffield United ahead of joining them on a season-long loan and Villa are now plotting moves for other targets.
It is understood that Liverpool wanted to add penalty clauses in Woodburn’s loan deal if he did not play enough games and that has seen Sheffield United come to the forefront in the race of the teenager’s signature.
Ben Woodburn having medical at Sheffield United today. Set to join on loan for the season. Villa are considering other loan targets #lfc #sufc
— John Percy (@JPercyTelegraph) July 31, 2018
Villa were in for him and were favourites over the weekend – but Liverpool put in huge penalty clauses if loan players don't play enough games, which probably explains why he is going to Sheff U
— John Percy (@JPercyTelegraph) July 31, 2018
Woodburn is an extremely highly-rated youngster at Liverpool and according to statistics website Spotrac, he is on a deal worth £12,000-a-week.
OPINION
Even though Aston Villa’s financial fears have been eased recently, the club is still having to work hard in order to avoid breaking Financial Fair Play regulations, so most of their deals are likely to be loans or very cheap transfers. Signing Woodburn on loan would have been a top-class move by manager Steve Bruce. The 18-year-old already has seven caps and one goal for the Wales international side and has started to make occasional appearances in the Liverpool first team. Villa’s loss is Sheffield United’s gain though, and the Villa Park faithful will come to see just why Bruce wanted to sign Woodburn when he starts tearing up the Championship in South Yorkshire this season. There is not a lot of time left until the transfer window closes now, however loan deals can still be done until the end of August. So even though the transfer window closes next Thursday, Bruce seems like he may remain busy with trying to add to his squad.