Former Swansea City defender Jake Bidwell believes Preston North End goalkeeper Freddie Woodman is read to test himself in the Premier League. The former Newcastle United shot stopper has been linked with a move to Leeds United in the past and remains a possibility for Daniel Farke as he looks to start his rebuild at Elland Road.
Woodman has a brilliant reputation in the Championship and at just 26-years-old, his best years are some way ahead of him. There had been plenty of talk tipping the Magpies academy graduate to become the number one at St. James' Park, but first-team opportunities were limited.
He had seven loan spells away from Newcastle during his eight year senior spell at the club and would make four starts for the club - coinciding with the Magpies' worst start to a Premier League season. Woodman didn't do himself a disservice in those games, but would move to Preston North End at the start of the 2022 campaign, where he'd go on to be the number one.
However, it was his loan spell at Swansea, where he played alongside Bidwell, that really thrust him into the spotlight. Woodman helped the Swans reach back-to-back Championship play-offs and his 20 clean sheets in 2020-21 saw him win the league's Golden Glove award.
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"He is a very talented boy," Jake Bidwell, Woodman's team-mate at Swansea City, told Chronicle Live in the summer of 2021. "You don't come through a club like Newcastle and be there for as long as he has without having some sort of natural talent.
"I think the two seasons in the end at Swansea, from when he came in to where he finished, he has improved massively over the last two years. He came in every day and worked his socks off and I think he has seen the benefits from that.
"He has done really well in the Championship and I think, for any player, the next logical step from there is to kick on and test himself in the Premier League. He has grown massively in the two years at Swansea and I am looking forward to seeing how he does if that is how it pans out and he gets his chance in the Premier League."
After a difficult few seasons of stagnation under Rafa Benitez at the Magpies, where he made just four cup appearances, Woodman's development at Swansea would be exponential..
"He is a really good shot-stopper and we wanted to try and play a certain way at Swansea," Bidwell added. "His distribution improved massively over the two years but his all-round game is really good.
"Being a goalkeeper, two years is a long time to grow into yourself and he has bulked up a lot as well. He does a lot of work in the gym and he has seen the results of that."
Woodman's goal remains to play in the Premier League and Leeds United could be the perfect move for him this summer, with the Whites aiming for promotion at the first time of asking.
"He is a hard-working lad and the ultimate goal is to go on and play in the Premier League," Bidwell concluded. "It is probably something he has worked towards for the best part of 15 years and now is the time to put everything he has learned into that moment.
"He has worked hard for it, I have got no doubt he will be ready for it and from working with him over the last two years he can't do anything more to make himself any more ready than he will be. Knowing him as a lad, I am sure he will be ready for the chance if and when it comes."
