Former Wales Striker Compares Wales Youngster Ben Woodburn to Marcus Rashford
Former Liverpool and Wales striker Dean Saunders has compared rising star Ben Woodburn to England's Marcus Rashford.
Woodburn played a starring role for his country over the international break in wins against Austria and Moldova, as Wales kept their hopes alive of qualifying for next summer's World Cup.
The Express have revealed that Saunders feels that the performances shown by the 17-year-old over the two games, were well beyond his years and has similarities to Manchester United forward Rashford's.
After coming of the bench to net a stunning winner against Austria, Woodburn followed this up by providing a crucial assist to Hal Robson-Kanu in their 2-0 win over Moldova on Tuesday night.
Speaking to talkSPORT after the game, Saunders said: “He doesn’t play like a 17 year old. Last night he looked like a 30 year old,” “He was back-heeling it, he was bringing the ball out of the sky. Walking with the ball, you know a bit like Marcus Rashford did late on in the game. A bit of arrogance in his game, he’s confident, and he showed a bit of pace last night.
However, despite his praise the former Crawley and Chesterfield manager insisted that the midfielder must remain grounded to realise his full potential: “The way to treat him I suppose is you try and protect him because at 17, no matter what you do, even if you’re not a footballer, you make mistakes at 17.
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“You don’t know anything really, you think you do, but you don’t know anything. So you try and guide him away from the problems. Chris Coleman’s has seen everything so he’ll be saying ‘don’t stand there in front of the press in certain situations.
"Don’t be speaking about that, don’t be buying a massive car, don’t be buying a massive house, keep your feet on the ground. Don’t give him £100,000-a-week just because he’s had a couple of good games but it’s hard to stop that happening.”
Woodburn made an impression last season when he became Liverpool's youngest ever goalscorer after his strike against Leeds in the Carabao Cup, but is yet to make an appearance for Jurgen Klopp's men this term.
