When Ben Davies first joined Liverpool on transfer deadline day in February 2021, the sound-bites from his first interview with the club were what you’d expect from any player making that move to Anfield. With Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez all ruled out for the season with injuries, the defender had been snapped up from Championship Preston North End in an initial £500k deal and had, at that time, looked set to answer Jurgen Klopp’s defensive injury crisis.
“It’s a huge opportunity, yeah,” the defender admitted at the time. “Obviously it came as a bit of a surprise when it first came out but once you start to get your head around it, the opportunity that is in front of me is incredible and I’d be silly to let it wash up or not make the most of it and [I’ll] try to learn off the players.
“I think a football career is so short and you need to try to be on that pitch as much as you can. So when this door is open, I look to come in and try to get in the first team, play some games and help the team do well.
