Ben Doak's 5-minute impact for Scotland speaks volumes about Liverpool star

Ben Doak is yet to make his Middlesbrough debut after moving to the Championship side on loan from Liverpool this summer but he made an instant impact with his country, Scotland, during its defeat against Poland.

Just five minutes after coming off the bench to replace Kenny McClean, Doak drove forward with the ball and played in Anthony Ralston, who set up Napoli midfielder Scott McTominay to make it 2-2 on the night. A late Nicola Zalewski penalty kick secured a 3-2 win for Poland after Grant Hanley committed a foul inside the area.

Doak completed five out of his six passes on the night. And while the 18-year-old wasn't heavily involved in the game, he made a telling impact with one of his first touches — his direct running and raw speed telling you everything you need to know about his game.

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Liverpool has six senior attackers on its books at the moment, meaning it made complete sense for Doak to head out on loan. Given he is working under the highly-rated Michael Carrick, it could be the ideal switch.

The Reds have not often sent the best of its young talents out on loan in the past, but Harvey Elliott was hugely successful with Blackburn Rovers before coming back and making an impact for Liverpool at senior level. As well as Doak, Kaide Gordon has also headed out to the second tier with Norwich City.

Liverpool.com says: Doak has loads of quality and a good season with Middlesbrough could see plenty of transfer interest emerge in him next summer. With Federico Chiesa having been signed by the Reds, the competition for places at Anfield was too much for him right now, so leaving was the right decision.

Beyond this year, though, he will need to showcase a substantial level of end product to get up to the level that Liverpool requires in the long term, with Mohamed Salah not set to be around forever. Doak has all the raw ability but that now needs to translate into regular goals and assists.