EXCLUSIVE: Former Liverpool star Max Woltman left Anfield in 2023 and explained why he felt he needed to leave the club
Max Woltman made two first-team appearances for Liverpool during his time with the club(Image: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Former Liverpool star Max Woltman has explained why he felt he needed to leave the club in order to progress in his career. The 22-year-old progressed through the club’s academy and eventually featured for the Reds first team.
The San Siro in December 2021 was where Woltman was handed his senior Liverpool debut by former manager Jurgen Klopp, as the Reds claimed a 2-1 win away at AC Milan in the Champions League. A couple of months later, a full debut would come against Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup at Anfield.
They would go on to be Woltman’s only senior appearances for Liverpool, despite impressing for the Reds’ academy groups from the Under-18s up to the Under-23s.
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The 2022-23 season saw Woltman loaned out to Doncaster Rovers where he got his first taste of regular first-team football. It was this experience that prompted the forward to think that it was the right time to leave Liverpool.
“When I came back from that (Doncaster loan) it was a big conversation for me,” Woltman tells the ECHO.
“I loved being there (at Liverpool), it was one of my best memories making my debut, training with the first team. But you’ve got to step out of the bubble if you feel like there’s no pathway for you.
“So the main conversation was about how I can get myself into men’s football and where can that start?”
What would come next is a permanent switch to Oxford United in the summer of 2023.
“We had an approach from Oxford and that was the talking point, and then everything happened quite quickly,” Woltman explains. “That’s football, it’s a business, things happen and things move.
“Moving down to the other end of the country to start a new life and start a new career, so it’s good but it’s interesting. It was very fast, but I did enjoy it, it was what I wanted and needed at the time.”
Woltman saw some of his friends from the Liverpool academy go on to become first-team stars at Anfield. The 22-year-old admits, though, that there came a point when he realised he would need to leave to get regular first-team football.
“Liverpool are the biggest club in the world, they can go and sign whoever they want, whenever they want,” Woltman says. “You’ve got the exceptions, Conor Bradley, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, lads who have come through the academy and kept their place in the team.
“You’ve got to look at people like that and realise where you fit in and whether you do fit in. For me, at the minute, experiencing the men’s games it’s very different to playing Under-23s football every week.
“There are a lot more players and experience in front of you, different styles of players, different things that coaches want, the board want, a lot more things come to it in the men’s game. And that made me realise that I need to step out of my comfort zone and head out and see what the real men’s game has in store for me.”
Despite leaving Liverpool two-and-a-half years ago, Woltman still holds the club he spent 15 years at close to his heart. Now at Macclesfield FC, a team in the sixth-tier of English football, who produced the greatest FA Cup shock in history on Saturday when they won their third-round tie at home to holders, and Liverpool’s Premier League rivals, Crystal Palace.
“I’ve got really good memories (of Liverpool), it was a place I was at from the age of four, so I was there for about 15-16 years,” says Woltman, who was an unused substitute in the incredible victory.
“I made my debut in the Champions League and my full debut in the FA Cup, going through the system and all the age groups, playing in all the tournaments, travelling all around the world, meeting new people and growing up with my friends and teammates, all playing together. It was unbelievable.
“I suppose that’s football, you grow up in these scenes and environments, and then at some stage you’ve got to step out of the bubble and go and do your own thing, push on and turn into a real player.
“I’ve got very good memories and got things that will stick with me for life from Liverpool. It’s my boyhood club and who I’ve supported all my life. So whether I’m a player or not, I’ll still be watching them and I’ll always be supporting them.”
