Yeah saw that but you've still used his fall or failure to tell us not to be excited about Ben. There is no comparison other than the age or competition they made their debut.
You definitely have a massive downer on youth development like it's just a pointless exercise the world over.
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Definitely not meaning to come across as 'telling' anyone to do anything. So apologies if that's how it seems. Only giving my opinion, and anyone can regard it as a load of bollocks. I'm sure many will.
I'm not saying Woodburn definitely won't make it. He's clearly very highly thought of, and the spell at Sheff Utd doesn't mean much at his age. I'm just saying we haven't seen anywhere near enough yet to get genuinely excited about. Assuming the goal is to be making a meaningful contribution for the seniors on a regular basis, Woodburn is still a very long way away from that, and if I was betting on it, I wouldn't like to lay money on him ever making it through with the inevitable competition in attacking midfield at a club like Liverpool. Look at how Keita is struggling to get a run in our team.
More generally, I don't think youth football is pointless at all. I have a Level 2 FA badge from my time spent coaching at youth level, and I find the subject generally really interesting, which is why I bother to post about it on here! But I do think there are a lot of problems with the way things are set up in England, which is reflected in the country's abysmal record at major tournaments. So if that's a 'massive downer' then ok.