Arne Slot will be thrilled by what Liverpool’s ‘Tasmanian Devil’ has done ahead of pre-season
The Liverpool players not involved on international duty are set to report to Kirkby to begin pre-season training over the coming days, and one youngster seems to have a head start on his teammates.
As per the Liverpool Echo, Ben Doak has opted not to take up his full allotment of summer holiday, instead getting back to work early with a personal trainer ahead of the specified start date for the squad’s return.
The 18-year-old was included in Scotland’s provisional squad for Euro 2024 but had to miss the tournament due to injury and was forced to watch on from afar as his nation once again exited at the group stage.
He also spent time at the facilities in Killbirnie’s Valefield Park last month undergoing one-to-one sessions, alongside those mandated by Liverpool, as he strives towards putting himself firmly in Arne Slot’s plans from day one.
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Liverpool’s new head coach must be delighted to see Doak going above and beyond to ensure that he’s ready to hit the ground running in pre-season.
The 18-year-old has plenty of lost time for which he’s trying to make up – the blow which wrecked his Euro 2024 hopes came not long after he’d recovered from a meniscus problem which required surgery that forced him to miss the second half of the club campaign.
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It was bitterly ironic that a spate of injuries to first-team regulars created opportunities for several youngsters at Anfield to get an unexpected chance at senior level, and the Scot would surely have been among them if it weren’t for his own setback.
Likened to a ‘Tasmanian Devil‘ by Virgil van Dijk, Doak has already played 10 times for Liverpool’s first team and will have designs on adding handsomely to that tally over the next 12 months.
Slot will have noted how the Scottish teenager has been putting in the extra hard yards before pre-season has even begun, a sure sign of the forward’s dedication to his craft and ambition to establish himself at one of the biggest clubs in world football.
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