Southgate phlegmatic over missing out on Ben Woodburn

England boss Gareth Southgate was phlegmatic and wished Ben Woodburn all the best with Wales after the youngster’s brilliant debut winner over Austria on Saturday.

The Liverpool striker kept alive Chris Coleman’s side’s hoped of qualifying for next year’s World Cup with a thumping volley just five minutes after arriving as a second-half substitute, but it could have been a different matter had the player chosen England as his national team.

The 17-year-old Nottingham-born starlet had been courted by England at youth level before committing to Wales, the birthplace of his maternal grandfather.

Southgate was asked about Woodburn over the weekend and wished the youngster well for the future and claimed that simply capping players for the purpose of locking in their allegiance was not the way forward for the Three Lions.

“We have lots of kids who are dual-nationality in our programme and it is increasingly difficult to monitor all of them. You cannot pick all of them at younger ages,” Southgate said.

“[Woodburn] is one that did train with us in some of the junior ages, but some of the countries are able to fast-track them more quickly and of course that appeals to some of the kids.
“And also some of them will feel that their heart belongs to other countries as well, so that is a personal choice and we wish him well.”

Woodburn’s appearance was his first for Wales and boss Chris Coleman has refuted the suggestion he put Woodburn on in Cardiff to stop any chance of England persuading the youngster to defect to them.

“I know there was talk of Ben playing for England but that was outside our little group and we can’t control that,” said Coleman.

“I never thought it was going to go any other way. But I didn’t put him on because I thought he can’t go anywhere now. I would never do that.

“I would never take a gamble on a young player. If I thought he was going to be out of his depth I wouldn’t put him through that. It wouldn’t be fair on him.

“I put him on to add something to us, and he certainly did that.”

Coleman could now start Woodburn against Moldova in Chisinau on Tuesday.