Ben Doak is putting the final touches to his £25m move from Liverpool to Bournemouth
Ben Doak is closing in on a £25m transfer from Liverpool to Bournemouth(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Ben Doak is set to complete a £25m move to Bournemouth after Liverpool reached an agreement over the weekend. The Scotland winger had been wanted by a string of clubs, including Portuguese giants Porto, West Ham United and Wolves, but talks accelerated with the Cherries on Friday.
And now the ECHO understands Doak is wrapping up the formalities of the move and is on the cusp of confirming a permanent transfer to the Vitality Stadium in a deal worth £25m, three years after the Reds brought him to Merseyside from boyhood club Celtic for around £600,000.
Doak made 10 senior appearances in total at Anfield and spent last season on loan at Middlesbrough, where he impressed with three goals and seven assists before suffering an injury in the second half of the term that curtailed his campaign early.
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The 19-year-old had been wanted by both Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town in January, prior to that fitness setback, but Liverpool valued him considerably higher than the fees of around £15m that were mooted at the time.
Reds officials valued the youngster at closer to the £30m mark and have now reached an accord with Bournemouth that will see him move permanently for £25m after he was left out of the match-day squad for Friday’s game between the teams at Anfield.
The Cherries have been in the market for a replacement for Dango Ouattara, who has been signed by Brentford for £42.5m to succeed the Newcastle United-bound Yoane Wissa, and Doak was identified as the ideal candidate by sporting director Simon Francis and head coach Andoni Iraola.
The deal means Liverpool will have raised over £215m in sales so far this summer following the departures of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£10m), Jarell Quansah (£35m), Caoimhin Kelleher (£18m), Tyler Morton (£15m), Luis Diaz (£65m), Nat Phillips (£3m) and Darwin Nunez, who moved to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia for an initial fee of around £45m earlier this month.
The Reds net spend for the summer transfer window now sits at £105m, inclusive of add-ons. Teenage defender Giovanni Leoni became the eighth capture of a busy few months of player trading on Friday when he completed his £26m switch from Parma.
Doak’s transfer means Arne Slot is left with five frontmen to fit into his three-man system with teenager winger Rio Ngumoha providing backup for Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitike, Mohamed Salah and Federico Chiesa, who all scored in Friday night’s 4-2 win over Bournemouth.
Liverpool remain ready to return to the table for Alexander Isak, if given encouragement from Newcastle, who drew 0-0 at 10-man Aston Villa on Saturday without the Sweden international in their ranks.
The Premier League champions had a £110m offer for Isak rejected by the Magpies at the beginning of the month.
Speaking after that goalless draw at Villa Park, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said: “Nothing has changed – but the door is well and truly open (for Isak). But he has to decide what he wants to do. We would like a resolution, when I say we I am talking about myself and the ownership, the players we have, we need that clarity.
“This season, any Premier League season is hard enough, you don’t need any type of distraction to swerve your thoughts and unbalance what we are doing. I am certainly not in control of that, there is only one person who is in control of that.”