Pat Nevin reckons Mohamed Salah‘s uncertain future at Liverpool could see Ben Doak handed a starting berth sooner rather than later.
After 10 first team outings in his first two seasons at Anfield, Doak was sent out to Middlesbrough on a season-long loan last summer and has excelled for the Championship club, with one goal and three assists in 11 matches so far. But it was on the international scene that the winger really caught the eye. A injury on the eve of the Euro 2024 finals ruled the teenager out of the flight to Germany but on just his fifth cap for Scotland earlier this month, Doak ran Manchester City star Josko Gvardiol ragged in a 1-0 win for Steve Clarke’s men against Croatia at Hampden.
Days later the former Celtic kid then teed up John McGinn‘s opener against Poland in Warsaw as Scotland avoided relegation from Nations League A with a last-gasp 2-1 victory. And with Anfield icon Salah going public about Liverpool’s lack of effort to try and extend his stay in Merseyside beyond next summer ex-Scotland, Hibs and Chelsea star Nevin believes Doak would be more than ready to step up and help fill the void.
Referring to Doak’s display against Gvardiol, he told BBC Sport: “Pep Guardiola insists on playing Josko Gvardiol at left full-back. He is great on the ball, extremely dangerous going forward and could become one of the great modern centre-backs of his age, but a top end defensive full-back he isn’t.
“I have long suspected this and it was underlined while watching him being torn to shreds by a 19-year-old Scottish winger while playing full-back for Croatia last week. As a winger, I loved it when natural centre-backs came out to mark me, it was bordering on too easy to feel like a fair competition. Those defensive roles are hugely different, even if they are only 20 or 30 yards apart on the pitch.
“It isn’t a problem for City when they have the ball all the time and they do not have to defend, but that is not the case now. In Gvardiol’s defence, that little Scottish winger was Ben Doak, currently on loan at Middlesbrough from Liverpool.
“With a turn of pace that is unfair bordering on cheating, Liverpool will be keen to use his services again sooner rather than later. Then again, Doak must zoom his way past Mo Salah to get a start, so Liverpool needn’t rush the Scottish wonderkid. But I was wondering, is Mo going to sign a new contract? The news suggests maybe not.”
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