Ben Doak: Scotland U-17 blow over ex-Celtic ace as Liverpool teen backed to reach 'the very top'

Scotland Under-17s will have to make do without one of the very best stars for the European Championships in Israel next month with the news Ben Doak is unavailable due to injury.

The teenage sensation recently completed a move to Liverpool from Celtic having already made two appearances for Ange Postecoglou, such is the promise of the forward.

Doak helped Brian McLaughlin’s side reach the finals of the tournament, where they have been drawn in a group with Portugal, Sweden and Denmark, with a hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Georgia in qualification, as well as providing an assist in a 2-2 draw with Czech Republic.

"I'm really disappointed for him because his attitude since I first got to know and work with him in June has been terrific,” McLaughlin said. “It would have been good to see him play against the very best in Europe, but he'll just need to recover from his injury, continue to train the way he trains and he will get other chances to play against the best at another time.

"It's not a serious injury. It's one of those injuries that trying to play three games in a week and with the amount of games and playing on hard surfaces in that type of weather in Israel wouldn't have helped him.

"We won't take a chance on any young player.”

Getting to the very top

McLaughlin has been hugely impressed with the 16-year-old since he started to work with him. Not just his technical talents but the mindset and ambitions to become an international footballer.

Ben Doak hit a hat-trick against Georgia to help Scotland reach the Under-17 European Championships in Israel. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

“The good thing for me is that I have got to know him, he's played seven or eight international games, hopefully, we have established a connection and the big push for Ben now will be to get fit and keep the great attitude he has and keep progressing.

"Celtic did a great job in developing him and I presume they wanted to keep him. The last time we were away, this was going on in the background, as soon as he got onto the training ground, he just trained hard and then when he went on to the pitch, despite all the rumours that were going about at the time, he just got on with it.

"Ben just wants to become an international football player and he's great to work with.

"As soon as I got to know him in June I asked him if he wanted to become a better player and the answer was always the same – that he wanted to get to the very top.

Doak made two first-team appearances for Celtic before moving to Liverpool. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

"He never spoke about Liverpool, he never spoke about Celtic. Ben was quite clear, he only wanted to train and he said he wanted to do everything to become an international footballer."

Doak will miss the chance to play “at that top level against the very, very best in Europe”. But McLaughlin won’t look to replace him.

"We will be in the hotel with all these future Champions League players and Ben wants to be one,” he said.

"Ben Doak is a unique talent and I'm not going to try and replace him. But whoever replaces him will get the experience at this level."