Sunderland AFC transfer rumours: Ex-Cats target training with Championship rivals after summer release

The Black Cats were linked with a loan move for the attacking midfielder back in 2018 when Sunderland were a Championship side under Chris Coleman. The pair had worked together with the Wales national team.

However, the loan never materialised and Sunderland were relegated to League One while Woodburn went on loan to Sheffield United, making eight appearances for Chris Wilder’s side.

Loans for Oxford United, Blackpool and Hearts followed for Woodburn, now 22-years-old, before the Wales international returned to Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp, though, did not see a future for the Nottingham-born attacker and has now released him.

Now hoping to rebuild his career, Preston North End Ryan Lowe has revealed that Woodburn is currently on trial at Sunderland’s Championship rivals Preston North End.

“I tried to do a deal to get him down to Plymouth when I first came down there, but he’d obviously been playing at a higher level,” said Lowe.

“Obviously his contract’s now ended at Liverpool. He was up with Hearts in Scotland last season and he’s a fantastic talent.

“We’re hoping we can get a tune out of him. He's going to be with us for a few weeks and it’s over to Ben now to showcase what he’s really about, because with the likes of Ben who have probably had a little bit of a dip in form of late, we’re coaches and managers that want to try and bring the best back out of young lads like him.

"He’ll be with us for a little while. He’s a fantastic kid, he’s trained fantastically well today, a good footballer, but there’s probably one or two more that’ll probably come in with us over the pre-season training because it’s good that we can have a look at them and they can get a look at us.”

Woodburn holds the record as Liverpool's youngest goalscorer when the player was back at Anfield for the remainder of the 2018-19 season.