Former Celtic Academy product Ben Doak has burst onto the scene down in Liverpool on his debut. The 16-year-old left the Bhoys this summer to sign for Jurgen Klopp’s men, in what was a considerable blow. There had been high hopes for Ben when he made his debut for the first team but then his services were acquired by last year’s Champions League finalists.
We did however, grab a £600,000 compensation fee for the budding attacker after he grabbed his senior debut against Dundee United in January of this year. The Scotland youth international has been awaiting his chance since he signed for the Reds back in March and now he has finally arrived down South.
Doak scored a brace as the Liverpool U-18’s took on Middlesbrough in their Premier League North match on Saturday afternoon. Not content with getting off the mark with his goalscoring exploits, he even claimed an assist to mark an excellent beginning to life at the Kop outfit.
His first was an early slaloming run one which he managed to evade numerous challenges to score past the goalkeeper and the second was from the penalty spot. It would be the wingers second and Liverpool’s third goal of the game. A very auspicious start for the young man who will have hopes of breaking into the first team one day.
It’s such a shame that Ben thought he would be better suited to trying his luck in England. However, Celtic cannot be too disgruntled as we are in a good place at this moment in time and we still procured a very sizeable fee for someone so young. Hopefully Ben can realise his true potential at Liverpool and add to an already talented Scotland squad.
Paul Gillespie
