Former Celtic wonderkid, Ben Doak started for Liverpool in their Europa League opener in Austria. The English Premier League won the match against LASK 3-1 and the young Scottish winger played for an hour.
Doak was part of the Celtic youth academy for years before deciding a move to the Premier League giants was worth the risk. The player decided against taking up the option of a contract with the Hoops and made his way down to Anfield a while back which left the club bitterly disappointed.
The youngster has went from strength to strength down the road and he looks as if he’s the real package. Many look great at youth level but then fail to make the grade when it comes time for men’s first-team football. However, Doak had been proving quite the find for Liverpool as he’s beginning to really show his capabilities and it’s really a matter of time until he’s called up to the Scottish national side.
For Celtic, it’s another ‘what if’ story and we’ll never get the chance to know just how good Doak could have been in a Celtic jersey. We seem unable to keep hold of these players because of our lack of first-team pathways for the players, with many becoming restless and fed up with youth team football and Lowland League matches.
The European debut completes a memorably week for Doak who earlier signed a new contract at Liverpool where he’ll now be making first team wages. It certainly beats the Lowland League with Celtic B Team, who lost 3-0 to Feyenoord this week after going down 5-0 to West Ham last week.
Something has to change…
Our line-up to face LASK tonight in the #UEL 📋
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 21, 2023
Paul Gillespie
