Middlesbrough: Ben Doak reacts after Liverpool agreement | OneFootball

Ben Doak has taken to social media after his deadline day move to Middlesbrough, speaking his first words as a Boro player.

Middlesbrough completed a surprise Deadline Day loan deal for Liverpool forward Ben Doak, and the Scottish international has taken to social media to voice his delight at becoming a Boro player.

The 18-year-old emerged as a surprise target for Middlesbrough in the final hours of the window, with Boro seizing an opportunity that arose which was too good to turn down.

Michael Carrick was able to convince the highly-rated teenager that Teesside would be the best place for his development, fending off interest from as many as six reported clubs, including Hull City, and Premier League duo Leicester City and Southampton.

Doak put pen-to-paper on a season-long loan deal with Middlesbrough on Friday evening, and was quick to take to his Instagram to introduce himself to the Boro faithful.

Doak's message to Middlesbrough fans

Boro put a bow on their summer business with the double loan signings of Doak and central defender George Edmundson from Ipswich Town, with the former taking to social media on Friday evening to share his first words as a Middlesbrough player.

Doak posted two images of himself wearing a smile and Boro's home shirt, with the accompanying caption of: "Delighted to be here😁 Let's get to work @theboroofficial."

Beginning his career with his hometown club of Dalry Rovers, Doak was picked up by Scottish Championship side Ayr United, before catching the attention of Glasgow giants, Celtic.

The forward signed with the Hoops in December 2021, but after making just two appearances for the club, the talented Scot was picked up by Liverpool in March 2022.

Since then, Doak has been shining in Liverpool's academy system, scoring an impressive number of goals and displaying the creative side to his game with numerous assists.

With his form in the youth ranks being impossible to ignore, then Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp handed him his senior debut off the bench in a 3-1 Boxing Day win over Aston Villa in 2022.

Doak has gone on to make 10 competitive appearances for the club, and was even named in Scotland's Euro 2024 squad but had to withdraw due to injury. His replacement? Middlesbrough's Tommy Conway.

Doak could become difference maker for Boro

Liverpool have seen great success when loaning out promising young players to the Championship in recent times, with the likes of Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott being the most recent examples.

In the case of Elliott, his seven goals and 11 assists during a season-long loan spell with Blackburn Rovers in 2020/21 opened the door to first team opportunities at Anfield, and he hasn't looked back since.

That will undoubtedly be the plan for Doak too, and should he deliver a similar campaign to that of Elliott's at Ewood Park, he could be the player who makes all the difference when it comes to Boro's Premier League promotion push.

Predominantly deployed as a right-winger, but also comfortable playing off the left and through the middle as a striker, Doak's versatility will only give Carrick further flexibility in attack, and provide that extra bit of strength in depth that is always needed over the course of a Championship season.

Blessed with pace and the ability to be in total control of the ball when dribbling at speed, Doak is a direct forward who's first thought when receiving the ball is to always question how he can hurt the opposition defence.

Indeed, during his three Europa League appearances last season, Doak's 4.26 successful dribbles per 90 minutes placed him in the top 97.8 percentile of players in his position in the Europa League that season - per FotMob.

Among an embarrassment of attacking riches to go to war with this season, - that still hasn't seen Marcus Forss or Riley McGree come into the equation yet - Doak could well be the classiest of them all, with his signing having the feeling of one that fans could look back on come May as one that tipped the promotion scales in Boro's favour.