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Outspoken Talksport radio presenter Adrian Durham has questioned the Football Association of Wales' decision to approach Ben Woodburn when he was just 12 years of age, adding that any pride the teenager has in playing for Chris Coleman's side has been forced upon him.

The 17-year-old enjoyed a dream debut for the national side, scoring what proved to be the winner just five minutes into his international debut against Austria before his impressive cameo helped Wales claim a 2-0 win over Moldova three days later.

But Durham was quick to question whether Wales supporters were over-hyping the youngster, while also debating if the FAW were right to take Woodburn into their set-up five years ago.

Introducing the drivetime show, Durham said: "Wales fans cheer on another Englishman and then try to tell us he's better than Gareth Bale.

(Image: Huw Evans Agency)

"Apparently Ben Woodburn is better than Gareth Bale. So let's discuss that. Talk about over-hype.

"International football, has it stopped being about pride in your country. Whatever happened to national pride? Being proud of the country you come from, loving your country, what happened to that?

"Are Wales fans raving about this young English talent too soon?

"Ian Rush speaking earlier on TalkSport, he admitted that Wales have actively searched for English boys with Welsh connections, some as young as 12, and that was 12 in Ben Woodburn's case, taught them the national anthem, stuck a Wales shirt on them and basically manufacturing a national team out of that and it's going to serve them well. No rules have been broken. Ben Woodburn has a grandfather from Swansea so he absolutely qualifies to play for Wales.

"There's two things I've got a problem with. Should you have a programme where by you're going to boys aged 12 or 13 and inviting them to be with the national side at that point and giving them a decision to make at that point.

"Is that really something that's healthy for the boys and for the game generally? There'll be one or two like Ben Woodburn who come through will be absolutely fine. But there might be others who just want to get on with their game, they don't want the pressure from a national side.

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"They don't want Wales coming to them saying 'we want you to come with us'.

"Wales have done well and he's scored the winner, but this is a Football Association of a country that's actively going out there and encouraging boys to choose one country over another. Is that the right thing to do?"

Woodburn sent social media into meltdown with his stunning debut strike against Austria as Chris Coleman's men claimed a vital 1-0 win in their quest to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

But Durham believes Woodburn has been over-hyped, while he continued to question the FAW's methods of approaching young players with Welsh connections from an early age.

"I've been looking through the Welsh press, and they're talking about him being the next superstar," added Durham.

"There was one writer who said 'I was there for Ryan Giggs' debut, I was there for Gareth Bale's debut, I was there for Aaron Ramsey's debut' and I'm thinking to myself, 'why are you doing that?'.

"What happens if he has a spell between now and the age of 20, where he doesn't play first team football, he might even have injuries, he just might not re-create what happened the other night (against Austria) because he was brilliant when he came on.

"What happens then? Is he dismissed and you go after the next Englishman you can convert into a Welshman?

"I think there's been a lot of over-hyping. It was a great goal, a great cameo performance off the bench but to take that further and compare him to Giggs and Bale, is that doing the kid any favours?

"At the moment I would imagine Wales fans are thinking 'this is fantastic, we've unearthed this new kid'. By the way he is English, he was born in England, he's come though the England academy system, and I'm not sure how this represents a great coup for football in Wales. When they use the population as an argument to say 'aren't we doing well?' but none of them live in Wales for heaven's sake.

"There's something not quite right about it. I'm sure by now he feels Welsh, but what's happened is, they've basically taken him at 12, got him in the Welsh set-up and he's not known any different.

"He feels Welsh because he's been in their set-up, not because he can speak any Welsh or because he knows Bread of Heaven or he goes in holiday in the valleys, there's none of that, it's not a national pride, it's an enforced pride."