Ben Woodburn: Wales will not rush to cap teenage Liverpool striker

Ben Woodburn was aged 17 years and 45 days when he scored his first Liverpool senior goal

Wales will not rush to give Ben Woodburn a senior cap, says assistant manager Osian Roberts.

The 17-year-old striker became the youngest player to score for Liverpool in their 2-0 win over Leeds on Tuesday.

He has played for Wales at under-16, under-17 and under-19 level but is still eligible to play for England.

"We've got to take our time with Ben and do what's tight for him, we can't go around and just start throwing caps away irresponsibly," said Roberts.

"We've never done that and we're not going to start doing that now.

"We'll see how he performs over the next few months, we've been monitoring him and working with him and with the club for many years.

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"We've got a good relationship with the club [Liverpool] and we'll keep Ben at the centre of everything and making sure that we do everything that's right for his development."

Former Wales international Andy Legg has called for Woodburn to be given a senior Wales cap "as soon as possible".

And former Liverpool manager Roy Evans - who was assistant at Wales under John Toshack - believes Wales and England could have a "a little war" over the player.

But Roberts says the current Wales and Liverpool management teams were keen to keep calm in the face of the publicity surrounding Woodburn's landmark goal - which saw him displace Michael Owen as Liverpool's youngest scorer.

"It's early days - it was a fantastic night for him and his family with what's happened in the past few days but it's important that people like myself and the others around him keep our feet on the ground - let you guys get carried away with the hype," he added.

"Ben has been with Wales now for over five years and has been committed to all the teams all the way through the pathway and we certainly hope that will continue.

"But eventually there'll come a time that Ben will - and he will be well aware - he has to make that decisions but as far as we're concerned we certainly hope he continues he continues along the path he set out on some years ago."