Ben Woodburn set to be awarded five-year Liverpool deal

Liverpool will offer teenage winger Ben Woodburn a five-year contract when he turns 18 next month.

Woodburn is less than a year into the three-year contract he signed with the Reds last October, but the Merseyside club are keen to reward him with upgraded terms following his impressive international bow for Wales.

The 17-year-old scored on his debut against Austria on 2 September after coming on as a late substitute, and then set up a goal for Hal Robson-Kanu in the win over Moldova three days later.

The Guardian says Liverpool will secure Woodburn's long-term future by offering him a new deal, with the academy graduate set to become eligible to sign a five-year deal on his 18th birthday on 15 October.

Woodburn became Liverpool's youngest ever goalscorer at 17 years and 45 days when he scored against Leeds United in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup last November.

He made nine appearances for the Reds across all competitions last season but is yet to feature in a matchday squad this season.

Reds legend Ian Rush cautioned against hyping up Woodburn too much following his heroics for Wales and said the teenage striker needed to be handled carefully by his club.

"It's one step at a time but he will learn off those players and they will help him," Rush told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"People will make sure he keeps his feet on the ground, even though they don't need to.

"This is just the start of it. Sometimes it's easy when you're doing well but take it all on board, take the praise and everything, but you're still developing, there's still a long way to go.

"The main aim is to get Wales to the World Cup finals and he will be in that set-up if he can do that, so keep his head down and keep on working hard."