Aston Villa are set to sign Liverpool starlet Ben Woodburn on a season-long loan deal claims the Daily Telegraph.
The uncertainty over the Birmingham-based club’s finances under Tony Xia brought a stinging response from the EFL, who imposed transfer sanctions.
Those were lifted when Nassif Sawiris and Wes Edens took over the club. The pair gave sufficient assurances about Villa’s future for the embargo to end.
Steve Bruce, despite intense speculation over his own future, acted swiftly to identify the striker as a player who would improve the club’s chances of returning to the Premier League.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was effusive of his Woodburn after his performances on the Reds pre-season tour of the USA.
“All the young boys who came on are in really good shape this pre-season,” the German declared. “Ben Woodburn is 100% back for example. How it is with young boys, from time to time the improvement doesn’t go day by day, but he has played such a good pre-season.”
Woodburn is open to a loan spell. Earlier in the tour, he observed that “[Klopp] is still thinking [about] what’s best for me. I’ll agree with whatever he thinks. I’ll trust his decision and do what he wants me to do.”
Sheffield United and Wigan are also interested in the Wales international but with Villa’s strong finish to the season and retention of their key players, a move to Villa Park seems likely.
