NATURAL ability only takes you so far. Eventually, character, work rate and a burning desire to improve and succeed become every bit as important as innate talent.
So, when former Middlesbrough forward Kris Boyd looks at current Boro winger Ben Doak, he sees a player that is destined for the very top.
Having impressed in the opening months of the season thanks to his performances in a Boro shirt following his loan move from Liverpool, Doak has hit the headlines on the international stage in the last week thanks to Man of the Match displays in Scotland wins over Croatia and Poland.
This has already been a breakthrough season for the teenager, with his decision to leave Liverpool in search of regular first-team football having paid dividends.
“He obviously left Celtic and went to Liverpool, and it can be tough for young kids to go away and create their own career and pathway,” said Boyd, in an interview with Gambling.com. “Sometimes, as a youngster when you move to a big club like Liverpool, it can be difficult, but I think you’ve got to give Ben Doak a lot of credit.
“It would have been quite easy just to sit at Liverpool and train and play with the guys that are there, but he decided to go out and learn at Middlesbrough and perform the way he has.
“When you look at a lot of kids nowadays, they’re quite content just sitting within a squad, and I think that’s something to admire about him. He wants to play football, he wants to go and test himself, and he’s improved by doing that.”
His performances with Boro have earned him a place in Steve Clarke’s Scotland starting line-up, where his direct dribbling on the right-hand side have enabled him to make an instant impression on the international stage.
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“He’s got himself in the Scotland setup, and he’s something different,” said Boyd, who made 29 senior appearances for Boro in the 2010-11 season. “A lot of players nowadays don’t want to go and take people on, they’re quite content just passing the ball and getting back on it.
“He’s an old-fashioned winger. He’ll get on it, try and isolate people and take them on. He can play the one-twos as well, but he’s comfortable going and taking players on.
“You only need to look at a few of his performances since he’s joined Middlesbrough to see that he’s grown, and will continue to get better.”
Boyd watches a lot of Championship football in his current role as a pundit with Sky Sports, and the Scot expects his former club to be at the heart of the promotion battle in the remainder of the campaign.
“Michael Carrick decided to leave Manchester United and go out on his own, and he’s done a really good job,” said Boyd. “When you look at where Middlesbrough are, I think they are probably a club that’s in between the Premier League and Championship.
“I think they had great big aspirations to kick on and try and get back there (to the Premier League), and they did it under (Aitor) Karanka a few years ago. The chairman backs the club, he backs the managers and I’m sure Michael Carrick will feel that he has been backed.
“There’s a chance this year that they could go up. They had a little bit of a stuttering start and they seem to have got themselves back together. They’ve had a couple of good results recently, and they’ll be hoping that they can carry on.
“If you go back a few years, and you think of some of the names that were at the club when it was flying in the Premier League – if they can get back up, they can attract players. The chairman will back his managers and spend the money if they can get back there.”
