Ben Woodburn has sent a reminder to Jurgen Klopp about his ability by scoring a hat-trick in a behind closed doors intersquad friendly at the club’s training ground.
The 21-year-old Welsh forward’s treble came in a 5-1 win for his side, with the other two goals coming from Rhys Williams and 16-year-old January signing from Derby County Kaide Gordon.
Woodburn was the stand-out player for a team in the home kit which also included first team stars Trent Alexander-Arnold, James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Fabinho.
Billy Koumetio scored the consolation for the team in black away kit.
Woodburn, who has made just 11 first team appearances since his debut in 2017, spent the first half of this season on loan at Blackpool following previous temporary spells at Sheffield United and Oxford.
Since his return in January, the forward returned to the under-23 set-up where he has 2 goals in 8 appearances at Premier League 2 level this season.
However, the youngster might have made something of an impression on his manager with this performance at the AXA Training Centre.
With the team’s issues in front of goal this season, Woodburn would hope to have played his way into contention for the final months of the campaign with the Reds battling for a top four spot and pursuing a second Champions League crown in three seasons.
Following their narrow victory over Wolves, Klopp’s side are in the middle of a lengthy period without a competitive fixture with their next match in the Premier League coming against Arsenal on April 4.
With a number of players set for international duty next week, Klopp and his staff took the opportunity to assess the depth of his options ahead of the crucial final stretch of the season.
“It was everything we expected, and a little bit more because everyone was fully concentrated and enthusiastic,” Liverpool assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders told Liverpoolfc.com.
“The variety in the type of goals, the conviction both teams played with was just great to see. All the senior players were pure examples – their character [was] top. I love that. You can lose games, but you should never lose team spirit.”
