Report: Liverpool are about to sign a lightning-fast youngster who his club were desperate to keep

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Liverpool are reportedly set to sign 16-year-old Ben Doak from Celitc. According to The Athletic, The Reds are ‘closing in’ on the young winger.

Now, The Athletic have given a bit more background on Doak. They carry quotes from the player’s former youth team coach at Celtic, Martin Miller, who has given some insight into the player Liverpool could be getting.

“That’s a boy with pace — a lad you couldn’t describe as shy,” says Miller. “Plenty of self-belief and ambition, very quick and very good on the ball.”

The report also says that Doak’s move to Merseyside will be ‘bitterly felt’ by the Scottish club. They claim that the Scotsman has been left out of recent matchday squads after informing manager Ange Postecoglou that he wanted to leave.

‘A clear pathway’ to more first-team action is said to have been communicated to Doak. But the player has instead chosen to leave the club.

Planning for the future

Liverpool’s move for Doak is the latest in the club’s strategy of plucking the best young players from academies across Britain.

Since Brexit, clubs have been unable to sign players from the EU until they are 18-years-old. This has meant that, more than ever, the competition to sign the most highly rated British teenagers is rabid.

In this respect it’s vital that Liverpool prove that there is a pathway for young players to make it into the first-team. If they can’t, they will become less attractive and may lose out on some top talents.

For someone like Harvey Elliott, the choice was seemingly straight-forward. Liverpool had a big upper-hand in that the youngster and his family are all massive fans of the club.

But for the likes of Kaide Gordon and now Doak, Liverpool are competing against all the top clubs from across the country.

It helps that Jurgen Klopp is a manager unafraid of throwing youngsters in at the deep end. The boss has overseen the development of Trent Alexander-Arnold into arguably the best right-back in world football.

Klopp has also invested a lot into bringing the likes of Curtis Jones and Tyler Morton through from the academy. He’s also blooded Elliott and Gordon, amongst others, into his regular squad.

It helps to have a manager like Klopp, but he won’t be at Liverpool forever. The club need to make sure the pathway remains open, whoever the manager happens to be.

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