Oxford United’s two most underwhelming signings from the last 5 years and why – Do you agree?

In the last five years, Oxford United have been trying their hardest to get out of League One and into the Championship for the first time since 1999 – but it just hasn’t happened for them.

The last two campaigns in particular have saw the U’s try and fail to make their way through the lottery of the play-offs – the closest time being in 2020 when they lost in the play-off final to Wycombe Wanderers.

Oxford’s promotion challenges have largely been created by some smart recruitment over the years, but there have been deals that haven’t worked out successfully for whatever reason.

Let’s look at two players who perhaps came in with a big reputation but ended up underwhelming the fans with their performances.

Ben Woodburn

Woodburn was lauded as a teen as perhaps the next big thing, having made five Premier League appearances for Liverpool in the 2016-17 season and in 2017 he made his mark internationally for Wales at the age of just 17 when scoring the winning goal against Austria in a 1-0 win.

Big things were expected of Woodburn in the coming years but after a failed loan spell at Sheffield United of the Championship, the attacking midfielder headed to Oxford for the 2019-20 season with the expectation that he may tear League One apart.

Woodburn did actually start well for the club with one goal and four assists in his first 11 league appearances, but then a fractured foot which ended up causing issues for a number of months saw the youngster not play a regular league season match again for the club.

He did return for the play-offs at the end of the season but he made brief cameo appearances in two of those three fixtures – it’s a case of ‘what could have been’ if he managed to stay fit for the duration of the campaign…

Se