Ben Davies has opened up on the Liverpool 'eye opener' that helped him settle into life at Rangers.
The former Reds defender made the switch to Ibrox last summer under Giovanni van Bronckhorst and after getting over his early injury struggles the stopper has become a constant in the backline beside Connor Goldson for new boss Michael Beale. The ex-Preston defender has struck up a real bond with the ever-present Ibrox stopper with that relationship at the heart of the backline growing with every passing game.
Jurgen Klopp swooped to take the defender to Anfield in February 2021 but he never landed a debut with a bunch of unused substitute appearances the nearest he got to action. However, rather than look back on the experience as a negative, he admits he is grateful for the opportunity to be at a top level club and watch what the best players in the world do day in, day out. He reckons that step to Liverpool prepared him for what was to come at Rangers and he is now reaping the rewards after finding full fitness.
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He explained: “I’m grateful for the opportunity and the experience. 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’ve been a big eyeopener. 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 an idea of what it would be like to reach the top. But to see it first hand was good for me.”
It's been a season of ups and downs for Rangers this campaign after the highs of reaching the Champions League group stage, to the lows of landing that 'worst ever' tag. The Premiership title races sees them nine points behind Celtic while they also lost out in the League Cup Final to Ange Postecoglou's men. Injuries have been a real constant for the Ibrox men with Tom Lawrence one who has suffered more than most.
After an excellent start to life at the Light Blues he picked up a knock in the early part of the season that would initially rule him out for a couple of months but that has since became a season-ending injury. Davies knows what the midfielder is capable of having came up against each other regularly south of the border with pre-season set out as huge for the midfielder with his return going to almost be like a new signing.
Davies added: “It’s been disappointing as he’d settled really well and started the season well. We’ve all wanted Tom to get himself right and no matter how long it takes, we want to have him back right. That’s the decision they’ve now taken and hopefully Tom will be back to his best next year.
“You almost forget about him a little bit because he’s been out for so long but I’m sure he’s determined to have a smooth comeback. Pre-season will obviously be big for him in the summer.”
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