Leicester and Southampton are among several clubs keen on signing Liverpool starlet Ben Doak this summer – with the talented Scottish winger set to sit down with Arne Slot after the Reds’ pre-season tour to decide whether to leave or not.
Mail Sport understands the 18-year-old, who joined Liverpool from Celtic for around £600,000 two years ago and is one of the brightest up-and-coming stars at Anfield, is weighing up whether to go out on loan as his first-team opportunities might become limited.
Doak played in the second half of their first official friendly of the Slot era on Friday night, a 1-0 win over Real Betis in Pittsburgh, and also started a behind-closed-doors match against Preston a week earlier.
But the likes of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota are yet to partake in Liverpool’s pre-season and Doak might not get a great deal of minutes in the coming months, unless he excels on this tour.
Mohamed Salah and Fabio Carvalho started the Betis match out wide and Slot sees the latter as a winger despite the Portugal-born star playing as a No 10 on loan at Hull City. It is believed Dominik Szoboszlai has also been trialled as a wide man in training sessions in Pittsburgh.
Leicester and Southampton are among several clubs keen on signing Liverpool's Ben Doak
That could leave Doak with little option but to seek more regular game-time on loan, with newly-promoted Leicester and Saints credited with an interest. There had been talk of a return to Celtic but the Glasgow club are keen on signing another winger so that is unlikely.
He will sit down with Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes after the pre-season tour, which also takes in games against Arsenal and Manchester United, to discuss whether it is best for him to stick or twist.
Doak has been described as a ‘Tasmanian devil’ by Reds skipper Virgil van Dijk and is an extremely direct winger, always wanting to take on his marker. He came on in the Premier League opener last season, Liverpool’s youngest opening-day player since Michael Owen.
He also featured in the Europa League but his season was wrecked by injury when he tore his lateral meniscus playing for the Under 21s. He made the preliminary Scotland squad for the European Championship but suffered another setback and did not go to Germany.