Freddie Woodman Liverpool's No. 1

A year ago, Freddie Woodman was part of a Preston North End team desperately trying to avoid relegation from the Championship, made worse by a prolonged period on the sidelines with an ankle injury. 

Up until this weekend, the Croydon-born ‘keeper's only appearance was an EFL Cup fourth round tie against Crystal Palace in October. So who is the 29-year-old, and what winding road led him from Crawley Town to Newcastle United, to the spring sunshine of the Hill-Dickinson Stadium? Let's find out.

Born to a footballing family, his father (Andy) is the current manager of Bromley Town. He began his youth career at Crystal Palace before switching to Newcastle United in 2013. He remained in the North East for nine years, but was never part of the first team, making only nine appearances for the Magpies in that time. 

Instead, the lion's share of his career has been spent on loan, at clubs as diverse as Bournemouth, Kilmarnock and the aforementioned Crawley Town.

Of his loans, Woodman stated,

“It’s like going to school for the first time… you’re meeting new people… you’ve got the pressure of ‘he’s come from a Premier League club, he’s got to do well’.”

Although naturally never able to settle, Woodman slowly began to build a reputation as a dependable first-choice keeper, more than adept at playing in the Championship. However, it was during the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons at Swansea where he really made his name. 

Swansea was his first ‘stable club', where he flourished under the guidance of Graham Potter and former Liverpool youth coach Steve Cooper, going on to make 95 appearances for the South Wales club.

“Swansea, made it so easy for me. They took my mind off everything and I was able to just play. I think I signed for Swansea on a Friday and I played my first game in the Championship on the Saturday. I wouldn't have been able to play well if Swansea City didn't make it easy for me.”

Credits - Athena Pictures/Getty Images

But despite his great form and his popularity with the fans, Swansea and Newcastle were unable to come to an agreement to make the deal permanent, and he returned to the North East. His next move was to promotion-chasing Bournemouth, but faced with competition from Mark Travers and veteran Asmir Begovic, Woodman was limited to several cup appearances. 

Despite that, Bournemouth were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 2022 season, meaning Woodman bagged the first-team accolade of his career. 

The next season was a complete revolution for Woodman, however. Unable to break into the Bournemouth first team, and his contract ending at Newcastle, Preston North End jumped at the chance to sign the promising keeper on a free in the summer of 2022.

On the ups and downs of Championship football, Freddie Woodman stated,

“Confidence is massive in a goalkeeper. I don’t really lose it to be honest, even when I go through tough times. You have just got to keep going... that is it really. You have to keep going and things will turn. I work hard every single day and give my all every time I play. Sometimes it is not good enough; sometimes it is. That is what I will continue to do until I retire.”

He quickly nailed down a first-team spot for PNE, making 49 appearances for the club in his first season. Apart from a brief period in the 2023/24 season where he was dropped in favour of David Cornell, Woodman was an ever-present for the Lancashire club. 

However, with his own form fluctuating, PNE slipped down the Championship table and at the end of the 2024/25 season, Preston chose not to renew his contract. Part of it was down to Preston's need to lower the wage bill, and part of it was down to Woodman wanting to join a bigger club.

Freddie Woodman on joining Liverpool,

“There was a conversation in the summer where Liverpool came up… I had other options but my dad said to me, ‘How do you turn down Liverpool? You just can’t do it.’”

At the end of the 2024/25 season, Premier League Trophy in hand, Liverpool found themselves in something of a legal and squad quandary. 

With Trent Alexander-Arnold off to Real Madrid (Duolingo app still installed on his phone), Liverpool were at risk of falling foul of the Premier League's ‘five homegrown players’ rule. At the same time, exceptionally talented second-choice keeper, Caoimhín Kelleher, left to become first-choice keeper at Brentford - with Giorgi Mamardashvili coming in the other way. 

Thus, Liverpool needed to find an English player - who was unlikely to play that often - and a third-choice goalkeeper.

Freddie Woodman was both. 

“I’m very happy with my decision because I get to work with the best players in the world. Ali and Giorgi, who are top goalkeepers who will make me better.”

As such, Woodman was only ever bought into Liverpool to act as an emergency goalkeeper, and as a player to make up the numbers (see Scott Carson at Manchester City). But he also offers something that Vítězslav Jaroš doesn't: experience.

Those years spent being sent from club to club, having to settle into new environments, with new players in different leagues, have given Woodman the ability to effortlessly slip into the ‘groove’ at Liverpool, even if it's in the background.  In an interview 

"Being third choice is, from what I've seen, more important than what I thought coming in. You are trying to have a relationship with the lads, so if Dominic Szoboszlai wants to do extra free-kicks, I want to be there to help him. If Mo [Salah] wants to do extra shooting, I want to be there to help him. So it's just trying to find a different role within the team and realising how important it is.”

What is apparent is Woodman's unwavering confidence in his own abilities. He may be the third-choice keeper, and until this weekend his appearances would be extremely limited, but he's never lost the willingness to sacrifice it means improving himself for the future.