Doak ruled out of Israel trip with injury
INCOMING Liverpool wonderkid Ben Doak is out of Scotland’s squad for the European Under 17s finals in Israel next month with manager Brian McLaughlin admitting it is a big blow for his young Scots, writes Mark Walker.
The Celtic right winger has signed for the Anfield giants for next season after deciding to quit Parkhead, who handed him his debut this season.
Scotland are the only British nation to have reached the finals with Doak playing a huge part in qualifying, along with Rangers striker Rory Wilson. McLaughlin named his squad yesterday.
But Doak will miss out with a groin strain and McLaughlin revealed the 16-year-old is gutted to be unable to play in the tournament, where Scotland face Portugal on May 17, Denmark on May 20 and Sweden on May 23.
He said: “We’re disappointed that he’s not there, but he’s carrying a slight injury and if any of these young boys have got injuries, we don’t take chances with any player of that age and we never will.
“I’m really disappointed for him because his attitude since I first got to know and work with him in June has been terrific. It would have been good to see him play against the very best in Europe, but he’ll just need to recover from his injury.
“It’s not a serious injury. It’s one of those injuries that with the number of games and playing on hard surfaces in that type of weather in Israel wouldn’t have helped him. We won’t take a chance on any young player.
“But the good thing for me is that I have got to know him, he’s played seven or eight international games, hopefully, we have established a connection and the big push for Ben now will be to get fit and keep the great attitude he has.
“Hopefully, he will eventually push on to the Under 19s with Billy Stark and the Under 21s with Scot Gemmill and ultimately, develop towards playing for Steve Clarke. He just needs to recover from this setback.”
And McLaughlin believes he will thrive when he moves down south.
He said: “As soon as I got to know him, I asked him if he wanted to become a better player and the answer was always the same – that he wanted to get to the very top.” Squad: Greig Allan (Rangers), Cameron Bruce (Queen’s Park), Cameron Cooper (Partick Thistle), Josh Dede (Celtic), Liam Harvey (Aberdeen), Louis Jackson (Manchester Utd), Jack Kingdom (Manchester Utd), Ethan Laidlaw (Hibs), Dylan Lobban (Aberdeen), Magnus Mackenzie (Celtic), Rory MacLeod (Dundee Utd), Rory Mahady (Celtic), Charlie McArthur (Kilmarnock), Callan McKenna (Queen’s Park), Lennon Miller (Motherwell), Craig Moore (Dundee Utd), Lewis O’Donnell (Dundee Utd),Jacob Pazikas (Rangers), Dylan Reid (St Mirren), Bailey Rice (Motherwell), Rory Wilson (Rangers).