The Ben Doak Liverpool hype kicks up another gear as two stats from Darmstadt runout leave fans' jaws on the floor

Ben Doak's reputation as one of the Premier League's emerging talents continues to grow after a stunning 30-minute friendly cameo left fans' jaws on the floor.

The Scotland kid made the switch from Celtic to Liverpool last summer and while few begrudged him the opportunity, he wasn't expected to rise to prominence as quickly he has. Doak doesn't turn 18 until November but already finds himself chapping on the door of Jurgen Klopp's first team and has been given more chances to impress during pre-season.

Doak got off the mark with his first senior goal against Leicester but it was a friendly cameo against Bundesliga side Darmstadt at Deepdale that really got fans' motors running. In just 30 minutes off the bench, he racked up some impressive stats as one fan wrote: "10/15 dribbles won, 17/32 duels won. Fullback's nightmare. Ben Doak. Future is here."

It's been all upwards for Doak since he sat Lucas Digne down with that dummy on his debut last season and another fan added: "Ben Doak introduced himself to the PL last season through Lucas Digne. I'm looking forward to the LB that’s next in line this season."

A highlight reel (which you can see below) has been shared widely on Twitter and it had one fan even tweeting SkyBet to ask for odds on him winning Ballon d'Or during his career. Steady, now...

He wears No.50 for the Reds and this fan reckons he knows why... "Ben Doak wearing the number 50 to remind us that he is 5 times the player Messi was at his age."

If he can pick up more minutes this season then he could well be in contention for the Euros when Scotland (hopefully!) qualify for Germany in 12 months' time. But he could do with adding an end product to his game too as another fan added: "Ben Doak is a star in the making... Only 17 and he's already bulldozing past professional athletes as if they're not even there... Once he works on his end product and finishing...Sky's the limit for this kid!!!"

And that was echoed by another punter who said: "The scariest things about Ben Doak is his sheer acceleration and power he generates out of nowhere, he'll be moving at walking pace and the ball is struck so hard for his passes. When he gets the final part of attacks correct he's going to be a nightmare for keepers."