Liverpool’s penalty victory over Derby County last night was tepid at best.
At least until a 16-year-old called Ben Doak came on. The Scot was signed from Celtic earlier in the year and has been ripping the UEFA Youth League to shreds to such an extent that Reds were already eagerly anticipating his debut.
He played under 30 minutes but was Liverpool’s most dangerous player on the night, including Roberto Firmino and Darwin Nunez who were also brought off the bench.
“He’s good! It was nice to watch, eh? It was really nice to watch, him coming in and immediately a lot of things are obviously natural to him, which is really helpful,” Jurgen Klopp said post-match, but Doak was better than just good.
He’s a right-footer and it was remarkable to see him play on the right-wing and beat his fullback on the outside, time and time again, like a winger of old. Nowadays, the best wingers are really inside forwards who want to cut in and score themselves on their better foot rather than create for a teammate.
Doak took no shots, but put in multiple dangerous crosses after mazy dribbles. Sometimes you see a youngster and can tell straight away that, ‘Yep, he’s got it.’ This was one of those occasions. He’ll only get minutes here and there in the cups this season, but Liverpool have an insane talent on their hands with this lad.
Watch this space.