Owen: Klopp is the 'perfect manager' for Woodburn
Michael Owen has labelled Jürgen Klopp the 'perfect manager' for Ben Woodburn to develop under, after he witnessed the teenager supersede him in the Liverpool history books.
Woodburn became the Reds’ youngest ever goalscorer at Anfield on Tuesday night, as the 17-year-old struck at the Kop end to seal a 2-0 EFL Cup quarter-final victory over Leeds United.
In doing so, the youngster broke a record set by Owen way back in May 1997, when the man who would go on to win the Ballon d’Or in 2001 scored the first of his 158 goals for Liverpool after coming off the bench against Wimbledon.
Speaking after the win over Leeds, Klopp explained his desire to protect Woodburn from the attention that will now come his way - and Owen believes the Reds boss’ commitment to developing Academy players will benefit the Wales U19 international.
“He’s with the perfect manager in Jürgen Klopp. As soon as he [Klopp] came in, he showed his interest in the youth set-up,” the former Liverpool striker told PL TV.
“I was up at the Academy, probably watching Ben and another set of good young players, and he’d only been appointed two or three days [before] and straight away he was there at the Academy watching the young players.
“Ben’s obviously still very young, so it’s a long game for him. He’s got to be managed throughout his career, not just for the here and now.
“There are one or two injuries at the moment so he might get a little bit more of a game than he would in normal circumstances, but I think he’ll be managed carefully over the next year or two.
“He is a talent, a very good talent, a lot of the Academy staff have been thinking he’s one to watch for a number of years now.
“When I saw him originally he played in midfield and burst forward from deeper positions, but he can play in attacking positions as well. So I think he’ll be managed - he won’t be starting every game, put it that way.”
Owen was at Anfield to watch the clash with Leeds and was happy to see a fellow native of Cheshire beat his record.
“I didn’t mind at all. I was actually at the stadium watching the game and it was brilliant to see him score,” he added.
“When the goal went in I didn’t quite realise, but then the chap next to me said ‘That’s your record gone’. I’ve not got many records left!
“It was nice to see and as we’ve heard he’s from close proximity to where I live. We were both born and brought up in Chester so it’s great a local lad has taken my record.”