Sadio Mane has not spoken much at length about his time with Liverpool since leaving the club in 2022.
The Senegalese became a modern day legend with the Reds across six fruitful years, but has kept a relatively low profile in the three years since his exit.
That changed this week as Mane sat down for an in-depth discussion with Rio Ferdinand, with Liverpool topics very much on the agenda.
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Ferdinand was keen to ask Mane about a number of his former Liverpool teammates, including his relationship with Trent Alexander-Arnold.
After hailing the right-back’s qualities, Mane interestingly recalled how Alexander-Arnold’s breakthrough arrived as fellow youngster Ben Woodburn also looked like becoming a star.
While one Liverpool academy graduate went on to fulfil his potential, the other clearly did not. Nevertheless, Mane has given another reminder of just how highly rated Woodburn was at Anfield.
Ben Woodburn celebrates after scoring for Liverpool during the EFL Cup match against Leeds United at Anfield.
Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images
Sadio Mane tipped Ben Woodburn for big things
As Mane arrived in the summer of 2016, both Alexander-Arnold and Woodburn were on the fringes of the first-team.
During the 16/17 campaign, the two youngsters had their breakthrough moments. Nine years later, Woodburn has only just been replaced as Liverpool’s youngest ever goalscorer by Rio Ngumoha.
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His goal against Leeds in November 2016 would ultimately be his best moment for the Reds.
Although he hung on until 2021, Woodburn ended up making only 11 appearances for Liverpool and now plies his trade with Salford City in League Two.
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Nevertheless, Mane saw talent in the forward, and told Ferdinand how both Woodburn and Alexander-Arnold caught his attention as young players.
“When I first came to Liverpool he [Alexander-Arnold] was a kid, honestly,” he said.
“I remember the first pre-season we did he was with Ben Woodburn. I remember I used to say ‘hey, you guys work hard you will become big, big players.’ I used to say it to them. When I left he became a man.”
Why did Woodburn fail to secure Liverpool future?
Woodburn’s case was always an interesting one during the earlier years of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool tenure.
Klopp clearly rated Woodburn very highly, and the versatile forward was even on the bench during the 2019 Champions League final.
However, the former Liverpool manager rarely used him, leading to a stagnation of his talents.
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Part of the problem felt that Woodburn did not really have a defined best position. In a system as tactically rigid as Klopp’s 4-3-3, that was not a good fit.
The Welshman was also a little lightweight for men’s football, and unlike Alexander-Arnold, did not grow into his body until his mid-20s.
The talent was clearly there with Woodburn, but as he fails to truly shine in the fourth division of English football, perhaps he was simply never quite as good as everyone thought.