{"id":46128,"date":"2025-04-24T08:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T08:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/46128\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T08:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T08:28:10","slug":"sparkling-ben-doak-verdict-as-liverpool-wonderkid-shows-why-hes-a-creative-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/46128\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sparkling’ Ben Doak verdict as Liverpool wonderkid shows why he’s a ‘creative force’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A running theme surrounding Liverpool\u2019s loaned-out legion over recent months has been, unfortunately, one of disappointment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only four years after Virgil van Dijk\u2019s ACL injury thrust him into Jurgen Klopp\u2019s starting XI, Rhys Williams was relegated out of the Football League with Morecambe over the weekend. Calvin Ramsay continues to struggle for minutes<\/a> back in Scotland with Kilmarnock.<\/p>\n

The prodigious Kaide Gordon played fewer than 300 minutes combined at Norwich City and Portsmouth. Jayden Danns barely kicked a ball in anger for Sunderland<\/a> due to injury.<\/p>\n

But while Ben Doak\u2019s<\/a> own spell in the North East also came to a pretty premature end, at least this wing wizard-in-training can say he seized the chance to show the Middlesbrough supporters what all the fuss was about before being forced to undergo surgery on a thigh issue he suffered back in January.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Stu Forster\/Getty ImagesLiverpool\u2019s Ben Doak was \u2018sparkling\u2019 at Middlesbrough<\/p>\n

Doak averaged a goal or an assist every other appearance in Middlesbrough\u2019s starting XI between September and January. Three goals and seven assists in 21 Championship starts.<\/p>\n

Ben Doak has been tipped to succeed Mo Salah<\/a> later down the line by some of those in the know. The Scotland Under-21 international certainly channelled his inner-Salah<\/a> against West Brom just days before his season-ending injury, cutting inside and whipping a pinpoint shot into the top corner. <\/p>\n

That was just one of many highlight-reel moments in a Boro shirt.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And while Doak is humble enough to let his football do the talking, one Sky Sports reporter had a point when he said the Liverpool wonderkid made the Championship look like child\u2019s play<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, when EFL expert Ali Maxwell this week picked a Football League Team of the Season made up purely of those under the age of 20, that Doak was available for only half of the campaign mattered little.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, Doak\u2019s season was cut short in late-January,\u201d Maxwell begins. \u201cBut his form from November to January was absolutely sparkling. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best attacking players in the Championship, still at such a young age. Just, in terms of being a direct dribbler, one of the best in the league. Receiving the ball out wide, getting past his full-back by hook or by crook, leading to a shot on goal or generally to a cut back\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201c[Doak is] a fantastic creative force Boro have really missed him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Carrick still hoping for Doak return as play-offs loom<\/p>\n

In their 15 league matches without the former Celtic prospect, Middlesbrough have been on the winning side just six times.<\/p>\n

Michael Carrick\u2019s out-of-sorts outfit also averaged 1.9 goals per game with Doak in their starting XI \u2013 he was dazzling in the consecutive 4-1, 5-1 and 6-2 obliterations of QPR, Luton and Oxford in November \u2013 compared to 0.9 without Doak in the line-up.<\/p>\n

The Manchester United legend is not ruling out Doak returning before end of the season either. Particularly if Boro make the play-offs.<\/p>\n

Though time is certainly not on their side.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not writing anything off yet as you probably understand,\u201d Carrick said a week ago. \u201cBut, at this stage of the season, it\u2019s pretty late. So it\u2019s obviously not looking likely anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to reports, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are eyeing up Ben Doak ahead of the summer transfer window, in the hope that Salah\u2019s new contract will convince the 19-year-old to consider his options.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A running theme surrounding Liverpool\u2019s loaned-out legion over recent months has been, unfortunately, one of disappointment. Only four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[25373,748,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-46128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-ben-doak","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114392000533046788","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}