Andy Robertson revealed Scotland and Liverpool team-mate Ben Doak looked like he had never been away after the fit-again forward joined his international team-mates in training.
The forward’s club season was ended by a knee injury in December but the 18-year-old received a call-up to Steve Clarke’s 28-man provisional squad for the Euro 2024 finals.
Doak did not join the squad for the first training session on Thursday but he was back with the group on Friday and Robertson recognised all the attributes his Anfield colleague possesses.
“He’s confident,” the Scotland captain said. “Ben’s always not lacking confidence. He’s a fantastic player.
“Obviously his season was cut short with injury and he trained with the lads for the first time and looked as if he hadn’t been out for five months, which is credit to him.
“Unfortunately this season, I know what it’s like coming back after a long-term injury and it’s not easy. And he looked as if he hadn’t been away.”
Although a winger by trade, Doak impressed in a central attacking role for Scotland Under-21s in Spain earlier this season and could add a different dimension to Clarke’s attack off the bench in Germany.
READ MORE: Lyndon Dykes to be assessed amid Scotland injury scare
Robertson said: “He brings pace, he brings excitement, he’s not scared to take anyone on and and it’s exactly what we need – young players that have got no fear and he’s certainly got that.
“He’s got a bright future ahead of him. But it’s also important that we protect him and we put our arm around him and help him along the way, because he’s just starting his journey and we know what that’s like.
“It’s important people don’t get overhyped by him and let him grow and let him improve.
“And if we do that, then I believe that he can be a big player for us in this tournament, but he’ll be a big player for us for 10-15 years to come as well."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here