Liverpool told they sold a ‘generational talent’ for just £25m
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Liverpool signed one of the hottest prospects in British football in Ben Doak, but his career has since stagnated in the last year.The Scotsman earned his first-team debut under Jurgen Klopp at just 16, around a year after he arrived from Celtic’s youth ranks.Now, former Hoops coach Darren O’Dea has opened up on what a generational talent the winger was before he moved to Anfield.Ben Doak was a generational talentSpeaking to The Margins and Open Goal via YouTube, he said: “So he’s [Doak] what you call a generational talent. There’s no coach certainly not me that’s going to turn around and say coach that.
Yeah.“He just had it. There are two parts of it, taking care of it and managing his expectations, because he’s in a rush, he did it pretty quickly, but even Ben Doak felt he was getting held back at times.
He was one you just watched, and you just knew.”Doak really began to come into his own in 2024 when Liverpool decided to loan him to Middlesbrough for the season.The teenager was one of Boro’s best players in the first half of the campaign but suffered an injury in January 2025 that ruled him out for the remainder of last season.Despite the setback, Doak was sold to Bournemouth over the summer for a reported £25m.However, his stint with the Cherries has so far not gone to plan, with the now ex-Liverpool man once again hit with a major injury issue.From November to March, the forward was sidelined with a long-term hamstring problem, limiting him to less than 60 minutes of Premier League action.He has only recently made his return, playing three minutes of Bournemouth’s meeting with Manchester United last month.Doak was then left on the bench against Arsenal over the weekend as he aims to return to the same level that made him such a threat at Middlesbrough.Join Our NewsletterReceive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox