Ben Woodburn Likely to Join Hull City on Loan

The young Liverpool winger needs playing time in the second half of the 2018-19 season.

A year ago, Ben Woodburn was Liverpool’s top prospect, but the year hasn’t been good for him, and while Harry Wilson is off leading Derby to a promotion playoff spot, Woodburn is back training with the reserves after a failed loan with Sheffield United.

The club and player are both hopeful 2019 will see things getting back on track for the 19-year-old winger, and for that to happen a new loan will have to be sorted before the close of the January transfer window. And it looks as though Hull City is the likely the destination.

There has been plenty of buzz this week about Hull, who currently sit 12th in the Championship—both safe from relegation and unlikely to threaten the playoff places—being interested in Woodburn, as are West Brom and Steven Gerrard’s Rangers.

Today, though, Goal’s Neil Jones has painted Hull as frontrunners. It would be a relatively low-pressure situation for the player, and given his struggles with Sheffield that might be the best as the goal now must simply be to get him competitive minutes.

West Brom are higher up the table and, like Derby where Wilson is on loan, fighting for a promotion playoff spot while Rangers are in a title battle in Scotland. Both would be much higher pressure destinations—and harder lineups for Woodburn to crack.

Longer term, the young Welshman could probably use such a loan and playing regularly in a high pressure situation, but right now the only thing that matters after hardly playing for half a season is getting out on the pitch regularly.

If Hull City offer that opportunity for him, then that is really all that matters and it will be a good place for Woodburn to head on loan to for the second half of the 2018-19 season.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com