CELTIC couldn’t convince Ben Doak his immediate future lay with the club last season. The bhoys pulled out all the stop to try and keep Ben at the club, but in the end the pull of Liverpool and what they can offer was too much.

Ben was another in a long line of young players who have moved on to clubs with a much bigger platform. Not only that, the guidance and the professional set up of some of these academies puts Celtic to shame.

Ben Doak is playing way above his age level at Liverpool and has been a stand out for the Anfield club in the UEFA youth league. So many Liverpool fans are raving about the former Celtic player. There’s every chance Doak catches the eye of the first team coaches at Liverpool sooner rather than later.

BEN DOAK IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/GaDryvPtGt

— Football Report (@FootballReprt) November 1, 2022

Celtic have to learn lessons from the latest disappointment. It’s not about being reactive to a situation once a Liverpool or Bayer Munich are sniffing around. It’s about putting these young lads in a position where they have a real grasp of where they are in the pecking order and what they need to do to make it to the next level.

The sporadic nature of our youth academy for over a decade means it’s hit and miss, with much more misses than hits. You can point at Kieran Tierney for being the ultimate academy graduate; helping the first team before being sold for a record amount. But for every KT or Cal Mac there’s hundreds that fall by the wayside.

Ange has been keen to link up the first team and the developmental squad. Celtic shook things up this summer when Darren O’Dea and Stephen McManus took over from Tommy McIntyre.

We need to identify top talent and deliver them a path to the first teams. Celtic’s USP should be really banking on youth and making it clear we can offer top young talent a pathway to first team football and ultimately onto even greater things.