page_title: Ben Woodburn
section_title: 2016–17 season
hierarchical_section_title: Ben Woodburn / Club career / Liverpool / 2016–17 season
caption_attribution_description: English: Ben Woodburn
context_page_description: Benjamin Luke Woodburn is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Liverpool and the Wales national team.
  Born in Nottingham, Woodburn joined the football academy of Liverpool when he was seven years old. Nearly a decade later, upon making his senior debut in 2016, he became the third-youngest player ever to play for the club and, in just his second appearance, broke Michael Owen's long-standing record to become Liverpool's youngest-ever goalscorer.
  He subsequently went on loan to Sheffield United but was restricted to just eight appearances before returning to Liverpool, where he was part of the club's UEFA Champions League winning squad in 2019, although he took no part in the competition himself. The following season, he joined Oxford United on loan.
  Despite being born in England, Woodburn elected to represent Wales at international level and became the nation's second-youngest-ever goalscorer behind Gareth Bale when he netted on his senior debut in 2017.
context_section_description: Having impressed first-team manager Jürgen Klopp during these training sessions, Woodburn was handed his non-competitive debut during the 2016–17 pre-season in a 1–0 win over Tranmere Rovers. He came off the bench in Liverpool's next match to score one and assist another for Roberto Firmino in a 5–0 friendly win over Fleetwood Town. Woodburn then, along with Kevin Stewart and fellow academy graduate Trent Alexander-Arnold, signed his first professional contract with Liverpool on 8 November 2016.
  He made his senior debut for Liverpool on 26 November, coming on as a 92nd-minute substitute for Georginio Wijnaldum in a 2–0 Premier League victory over Sunderland. Upon doing so, Woodburn became Liverpool's third-youngest debutant of all time at the age of 17 years and 42 days, and the club's second-youngest-ever in the Premier League, behind Jack Robinson. Three days later, he became Liverpool's youngest-ever goalscorer at the age of 17 years and 45 days when he came off the bench to score in an EFL Cup quarter-final win over Leeds United, bettering Michael Owen's record by 98 days. Following his rapid development at Liverpool, both Sky Sports and The Guardian named Woodburn as one of the top young players to watch in 2017.
  On 8 January 2017, he became the then-youngest player to represent the club in the FA Cup when he started in a 0–0 draw with Plymouth Argyle. His first start in the league followed on 4 April in a 2–1 away triumph over Stoke City which saw him become the third-youngest player to start for Liverpool in the Premier League era behind Owen and Jordon Ibe. The following week he was nominated for the 2017 European Golden Boy award, but was beaten by French forward Kylian Mbappé. On 9 May, Woodburn won Liverpool's Academy Player of the Season award following a campaign which saw him score eight goals in Premier League 2 and break into the first team. He was also later nominated for the Premier League 2 Player of the Season award alongside Alexander-Arnold, though the award was ultimately won by Swansea City's Oli McBurnie.
caption: Woodburn playing for Liverpool in 2016
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