Liverpool make decision on Ben Doak transfer with Brentford keen to sign winger

Liverpool have decided to let Ben Doak leave on loan this summer after assessing his performances in pre-season.

Leicester City and Southampton have been joined by Brentford in pursuit of the 18-year-old, who is viewed as one of the brightest talents to through Liverpool’s youth ranks in recent years.

A straight loan deal is the most likely solution for Doak, but Express Sport understands that the Reds intend to take all options into consideration, including those which involve permanent buy options.

Doak – a direct winger who rose through the system at Celtic before joining Liverpool in 2022 for £600,000 – was restricted to five senior appearances in all competitions last campaign due to injuries.

Pre-season has been a valuable opportunity for the teenage starlet to leave an impression on new manager Arne Slot, and he played for 25 minutes of Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Manchester United on Saturday evening, which concluded their tour of the USA.

The Reds subsequently committed to letting Doak pursue regular game time elsewhere in 2024/25, with Brentford, Southampton and Leicester all offering Premier League football.

On last season’s injury woes, the wide-man said: “Who knows if I would have played? Obviously in my mind I’d like to think that I would have.

“But I can’t look back at last season because it’s last season, I need to look at this season and just try to get as many appearances on the board as possible.”

Slot’s predecessor Jurgen Klopp was a big fan of Doak, who was unfortunately ruled out of Scotland’s Euro 2024 squad due to injury.

And the teenager said of his new manager Slot: “To be honest, he’s very similar to Klopp in terms of similar ideas, but the style of play is a little bit different.

“He is very demanding, he wants everything to be as close to perfect as possible. That’s good for us as players because it helps us get better.

“Even if we don’t like it at times, he’ll tell us what we don’t want to hear.”