Liverpool hit gold on “world-class” star worth 4900% more

Next month, Liverpool have the opportunity to retain their Carabao Cup trophy, with Arne Slot’s rip-roaring start to life in the dugout taking him to Wembley, where Newcastle United await.

What to say about Liverpool’s campaign? It’s been brilliant, with Slot inheriting a talented team from Jurgen Klopp but keeping the quality intact, advancing it and bettering it.

There are strong title-lifting hopes for both the Premier League and the Champions League, but clinching a domestic cup would be a nice tone-setter for the final phase.

Liverpool have a team plenty strong enough to get the job done, win the trophy in succession. Last season, to be fair, Klopp had to make do with a depleted crop – but the youngsters pulled through.

Liverpool’s best youngsters

Klopp’s Kids. Liverpool’s iconic German gaffer was confirmed to be stepping down from his long-time position, but through a strong influx of youth, there was hope for the future.

Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah had established themselves in the first team and retain such positions to date, joining the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott as regulars.

But it was the younger, less experienced members of Anfield’s wider brood that saw Liverpool conquer Chelsea’s ‘billion-pound bottle-jobs’, as pundit Gary Neville so scathingly put it.

James McConnell, Bobby Clark and Jayden Danns were brought on in the later stages. Trey Nyoni, then 16, sat in the stands in what showcased the potential of that young midfielder.

Injury-hit Liverpool endured, proved they have a new-found academy strength that can rival even Cobham’s imperious rate of production.

However, Liverpool’s brightest star wasn’t even in the matchday squad that day, for he was sidelined along with many more senior teammates.

In fact, the young man in question hasn’t returned to Liverpool action since, one year later. That’s because Ben Doak has been competing in the Championship on loan with Middlesborough, exhibiting his elite-class potential.

Ben Doak’s 24/25 season in numbers

Doak, 19, featured five times for Klopp’s Liverpool last season, making exciting headway before a cruel injury ruled him out from December 2023 until the end of the campaign.

His goalscoring Boro teammate, Tommy Conway, has praised him for his uncanny ability to “cause carnage on the pitch.” Goals and assists are great, but Doak is young and has ample time to build up his potency.

But the raw underlying data bespeaks stardom. As per Sofascore, Doak has started 21 Championship matches this season, scoring three goals and registering seven assists.

He’s also crisp, completing 84% of his passes, making almost two key passes (1.9) every game. Mohamed Salah, for context, averages 2.2 for Liverpool this term.

Compare his Championship metrics with those of Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo in the Premier League this season and you see that he’s got something special to bring to the table, something worth Slot’s time.

He’s a real player, this young Scotland star. See the table. See Doak’s ball-carrying threat, his creativity and the artful insinuations that they carry.

To think that Liverpool snapped Celtic’s youth player up for just £600k – a compensation fee for the then-16-year-old – only underscores the success, with Klopp leaving the Merseyside outfit in a far better condition than the dilapidation he walked into back in 2015.

Ben Doak’s soaring market value

Doak has been in fine fettle this term, praised curiously as a ‘whirlwind dervish’ by BBC Sport writer Tom English.

Senior reporters such as The Telegraph’s Chris Bascombe had “rejected a £15m bid from Crystal Palace” in January, holding out for a £30m figure for the wideman.

With Ipswich Town going one better – literally – and offering £16m, £1m more than the Eagles, Liverpool chiefs surely recognised that they have a banker on their hands. Former Scotland manager Craig Levein has claimed: “this kid could be a world-class player.”

This whole ordeal was met with dismay by many of a Liverpool persuasion. Doak has been tearing it up in the second tier and could become a major player in Liverpool’s first team over the coming years – especially when considering his right-sided placement would be perfect to compensate for the ostensibly outgoing Salah, out of contract at the end of the season.

Slot could make good use of his skills, but given that Doak is already worth so much more than the nominal fee paid for his services, it’s hard to argue that Liverpool haven’t already hit the jackpot on the player.

To be sure, Doak’s stock could rise higher and higher over the coming campaigns, but his financial skyrocket to at least £30m already marks a 4900% increase from that one-time £600k payment.

Energy, combativeness and dynamic ability sit within a vibrant skill set that has already tempted two Premier League outfits into making their moves – Liverpool must consider their options carefully, but given the need for strengthening across a number of areas this summer, surely Doak’s inclusion in Slot’s second season would only be a good thing?

Whether FSG decide to bite the bullet and cash in on their top talent this summer, or indeed allow him to graduate from the fringes and into the first-team ascendancy, remains to be seen.

But whichever way you look at it, Liverpool have hit the jackpot on this profitable and powerful winger, whose name will only gain steam over the coming years.