Liverpool working on plan for ‘special’ teenager who has impressed Jurgen Klopp

If there is an abiding image of Ben Doak’s fledgling Liverpool career to date, it was one taken of him on Boxing Day last year.

The winger was around a month removed from celebrating his 17th birthday when he was introduced for his Premier League debut at Aston Villa on December 26.

With the Reds 3-1 up after a hard-fought contest in Birmingham, Doak was brought on for his first taste of English football’s top flight and while most youngsters would have looked to have quietly slotted in for the final moments of the game, Doak is not most youngsters.

Receiving the ball with his back to goal on the right side of the pitch, rather than simply keep hold of it with a backwards pass, Doak, instead, performed a sumptuous dummy that saw the ball roll through his legs before he turned and accelerated past Villa left-back Lucas Digne.

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France international Digne, who was left floored by the move, is unlikely to have been as directly flummoxed since his days of marking Lionel Messi in Barcelona training sessions and his allegiances to former club Everton ensured the Reds supporters in the far end of Villa Park extracted full schadenfreude from the delightful Doak move.

The former Celtic teen gave the uninitiated a tantalising snapshot of both the fearless mentality and ability that has underpinned his development on a journey that has taken him to the cusp of the first team at Anfield so far.

At 17, there will be no demands placed on Doak for the coming campaign but club coaches believe they have a potentially special talent in their ranks in the teak-tough Scot. Before his special St Stephen’s Day, he marked a memorable week a month earlier by signing his first professional terms just days after his senior debut came in a penalty-shootout win over Derby County in the Carabao Cup.

Arriving for Fabio Carvalho for the final 15 minutes of normal time, the youngster’s willingness to drive at his more experienced opponents was a key feature in an exciting cameo which was no surprise to regular watchers of academy football.

Rarely a game went by during the Under-19s UEFA Youth League campaign when the ECHO’s analysis was not highlighting another fine performance from Doak. The electric winger scored four goals and carved out as many assists as the Reds qualified from a group featuring Rangers, Ajax and Napoli in comfort.

The pick of the bunch was surely in his hometown of Glasgow when he played most of the second half as a lone striker after defender Lee Jonas has been dismissed with Barry Lewtas’s men leading 2-0. A comeback from the Scottish side at Partick Thistle’s Firhill stadium saw the young Reds hanging on back in October as the game moved into its final stages.

It was an intervention from Doak, who had already enjoyed an outstanding game, that turned the match back in the visitors’ favour. After picking…