OPINION
Aston Villa are in need of a new winger after Yannick Bolasie left them short of options and there are few better options to pursue than Liverpool attacker Ben Woodburn given his potential availability.
Bolasie was regularly featuring for the Villans ahead of sending them an email that he was ending his loan spell, as reported by the Mirror, with them in order to take his chances back at his parent club Everton.
Given that time is ticking down on the January window, the Villans have to act swiftly to get a capable replacement through the door for who a deal could ideally be struck for without too much hassle.
This should lead them straight to Woodburn as despite a disappointing time at Sheffield United ahead of his loan spell with them being cut short, he is a promising talent who could excel at Villa Park.
The Reds winger has managed to make 11 appearances for the senior side in his career so far, which is a reflection of his talent, and could flourish in the Championship if given a chance.
Woodburn has a respectable amount of pace and given he has been involved in 18 goals in his 26 appearances for the Reds’ U-23 during his career, the 19-year-old definitely has the creative awareness to be a spark for someone.
According to the Scottish Sun, Rangers, Blackburn, Brentford, Hull, West Brom and Wigan are all interested in borrowing Woodburn’s services but given that the Villans definitely have a space for him in their team, it would put them front of the queue for him.
This is the case as Reds manager Jurgen Klopp while sharing how highly he rates the 19-year-old by calling him outstanding, revealed the club only wanted to loan him to a side where he would definitely get playing time.
“We have to see. There are a couple of clubs interested, but to be honest if these clubs don’t give me the guarantee that he will play, there is absolutely no reason from my point of view to give him on loan,” Klopp told Liverpool’s official website.
“When we give players on loan, we don’t want to make them ready for life outside because that’s what we can do as well. We want to give them the opportunity to play football and for playing football you need to fight for your place, but that’s what they learn here as well. You don’t need to give them on loan so they learn this.
“Football is, in parts, a ‘dirty business’ and people really forget immediately – if you have two or three games and are not that convincing, people think ‘oh, he lost it’ or whatever. Ben Woodburn is an outstanding talent, still pretty much a kid, and I am happy to see him here, running around, completely fit and really settled in the squad.”
Therefore this all means that the Villians have to swiftly pounce on the in-demand winger as he could do a job for them and the Reds will probably be open to loaning his services based on Klopp’s remarks.