Rangers defender Ben Davies claims he really benefitted from his time at Liverpool, despite the fact he failed to make an appearance for the club.
The 27-year-old joined the Anfield outfit in January 2021 for £1.6m, before going out on loan to Sheffield United last season. The centre-back was never given the opportunity to line out in a Liverpool shirt, and he joined Rangers in July 2022 in a deal worth £4m.
Despite this, he took to a recent Gers pre-match press conference to speak about fond memories from his spell on Merseyside.
“No, I’m grateful for the opportunity and the experience,” Davies said of his time at Liverpool, as shared by the Glasgow Times.
“It opened my eyes to the top level and what the best players do, day in day out.
“It gave me life experience and now coming into Rangers off the back of it it’s definitely helped because I think if I’d come here without that step to Liverpool it would have been a big eye-opener.
“What did I take from it? I took from it how the elite people and teams in the world operate, how they prepare and the standards that are required around the whole club.
“That rubs off on you even when you’re not playing. You benefit from that. I was up against these guys day in day out in training.
“When I was at Preston and playing Championship level you have ab idea of what it would be like to reach the top. But to see it first hand was good for me.”
Davies speaks highly of Liverpool spell
Davies’ deadline day move to Liverpool remains one of the strangest transfers in the club’s history.
He arrived during a defensive crisis when Jurgen Klopp was desperate for centre-backs to be brought in.
However, the Englishman was never given an opportunity – literally never. He failed to make a single appearance for the Reds.
Instead, Liverpool lined up with Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams at the back, who, at the time, actually did exceptionally well.
Despite this, neither player has gone on to become a regular in Klopp’s starting XI.
Phillips’ career has been put on hold as the club have had to keep him from leaving on multiple occasions when injuries have arisen.
Therefore, it is still a mystery why Liverpool bought Davies to never play him.
Thus, it’s good to see him doing so well at Rangers.