Wales midfielder Joe Ledley has admitted that teammate Ben Woodburn has all the hallmarks of a top-class player, but he must first bide his time.
The 17-year-old burst onto the scene last season when becoming the youngest player to net a goal for Liverpool, doing so in the 2-0 EFL Cup win against Leeds United.
Woodburn was then a surprise inclusion for Wales last month, belying his lack of first-team experience by scoring a long-range winner against Austria to revive his national side's qualifying hopes.
An impressive cameo showing from the bench against Moldova followed, but Ledley says that patience is required as Tom Lawrence has done enough to warrant a starting place against Republic of Ireland.
"Tom is a great player to play with. He is brilliant, you see him in training doing shots like that, even free kicks," The Mirror quotes him as saying. "He has that in the bag and it was only a matter of time before he got his first goal [against Georgia] for his country.
"Obviously Ben has a great future but he has to be patient and he knows that. He has set the world alight when he has come on these last few campaign games. But Tom has started a few and hopefully he can keep his place and if he keeps doing that I am sure he will."
Woodburn has featured three times for Wales and once for Liverpool so far this campaign, with his only club outing coming in the 2-0 cup defeat against Leicester City last month.
Daniel Lewis
