The Ben Doak dilemma facing Liverpool and Scotland as pre-season of promise gets fans talking

Liverpool’s English Premier League campaign kicks off this weekend and there is a Scottish player on the lips of the Reds’ faithful.

No, not Andy Robertson, although the Scotland captain and left-back is still a very popular figure at Anfield. The man – or should we say boy? – who has impressed the most during pre-season is 17-year-old sensation Ben Doak, whose performances in Liverpool’s five pre-season friendlies have got their fans talking.

Doak has only been at the club since March 2022 after being signed from Celtic for £600,000 but his stock is growing. Manager Jurgen Klopp gave the Scotland Under-21 internationalist his debut last November in an EFL Cup tie against Derby County and he became the youngest Scot to play in the English Premier League in December with a cameo against Aston Villa. His last senior appearance came in January but involved in every summer match for Liverpool, he has shot to prominence.

Monday night’s 3-1 victory over Darmstadt was fairly straightforward for Liverpool as they prepare for the visit of Chelsea this Sunday to start the season. Doak came on just after the hour mark and terrorised the German outfit’s defence. An old-fashioned, tricky, direct winger, his display was the talk of Liverpool social media. Given three 45-minute opportunities against Karlsruher, Greuther Furth and Leicester – he scored in a 4-0 win against the Foxes – he was also handed a 15-minute opportunity against Bayern Munich. It is clear that Klopp rates him highly.

Doak completed ten successful dribbles in pre-season, the most out of any Liverpool player – an impressive stat given his minutes on the pitch. He is fast, dynamic, not afraid to take on full-backs. At 17, his end product is understandably inconsistent, but all the raw materials have been showcased during pre-season. The question now is what happens next.

Liverpool are extremely well-stocked in the forward areas. Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gapko, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and new signing Dominik Szoboszlai are all ahead of him in the pecking order. While there are plenty of role-models for Doak to watch and learn from, the question now for the teenager and Liverpool’s coaching staff is whether he should remain in the academy, play under-23 football or be sent out to another club to play more first-team football.

Doak’s goal against Leicester – a header – was a milestone for him and he is naturally trying to stay grounded amid the hype. “It feels night and day from this time last year,” he said after netting in Singapore, “but I still have a long way to go. I’m just trying to improve as a player again. Of course, I want to play as many games as possible. The more you play, the more likely you are to stay in the game as a whole. I’m just trying to make a career for myself, hopefully at the highest level.”

The hype will continue to grow, however, especially at international level. While Scotland are motoring along very nicely under Steve Clarke, there will be calls to integrate this precocious talent into the senior set-up soon enough. Clarke is experienced enough to know when the time is right, but already there is a feeling Scotland has a once-in-a-generation attacking talent on its hands. How it is nurtured is now the key, at club and country.