Celtic youth product Ben Doak has signed a new long-term deal with Liverpool. The 17-year-old has progressed from the Liverpool Academy into the first team following his move from the Scottish Champions in 2022. Jurgen Klopp has spoken positively about Doak and his progression and now he has been rewarded with a new contract.
As announced by Liverpool FC’s Official website on Tuesday evening, Doak extended his deal at Anfield as the club were keen to tie him down.
The Scotland U21 star featured heavily during pre-season and came off the bench in the Premier League opener this season against Chelsea. Doak has made just six appearances to date for Klopp’s team but his inclusion in their Europa League squad was telling of how high the manager rated him.
Celtic attempted to offer Doak professional terms and only received a small fee in return for the tricky winger. Much has been made of Celtic’s investment into the Barrowfield complex but there needs to be a better pathway towards the first team as football has moved on substantially in the last few years. Does the Lowland League offer a practical route when players can play academy football in England, the recent result against West Ham suggests not.
Celtic need to do as much as they can to lead a change towards improving second teams in order to offer players the chance to get into the first team.
How can we have let Doak go and still have so much dead wood left in the squad? At that age the boy was class and Liverpool clearly saw this. Would you have moved Jinky away from Celtic at that age if you had him on your books ? Watch this lad 4 years from now.