Kenny Dalglish urges Liverpool to be patient with young forward Ben Doak
What Liverpool fans would give to have another world-class forward like Sir Kenny Dalglish again. He was nicknamed ‘the King’, and that was probably underselling it.
He won six league titles and three European Cups as a player during his 13-year-long playing career for the Reds. His speed, shooting, and dribbling ability made him the complete package in attack.
Ben Doak has been (very, very) prematurely touted by some fans to be the next world-class Scottish forward for Liverpool. These are dangerous potential comparisons for a 17-year-old.
He joined us from Celtic, just like Dalglish did – doing so last summer. Doak is currently seeing more action with our development teams but has already played five times for the club at the senior level.
Patience is key
All of these have been substitute appearances, to no one’s surprise. That is what you would expect for a teenager with a lack of experience at the very top. Dalglish believes LFC must exercise patience with the prodigal winger. The Scottish legend said, via Liverpool Echo:
“It’s not a Cinderella story. He’ll get there eventually but let’s not push him too quickly. The wee man has done brilliant at Liverpool. They really enjoy what he’s done. He certainly looks the part. But give him time to settle down. For a 17-year-old to leave his home town for Liverpool, give the wee man a chance to breathe.”
Doak has shown that he has pace off the blocks and that he can take on defenders and make things happen in the final third. Of course, academy-level football is miles apart from the real thing i.e. the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
But he shows a level of confidence which indicates that he believes he belongs here on the big stage. We can expect to start seeing a bit more of him as he garners more experience, perhaps from next season itself.
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Right now, we are not in any cup competition and given we are in a top-four race that is heavily stacked against us, it is unlikely manager Jurgen Klopp will hand any meaningful minutes to Doak.
