Former Liverpool defender Ben Davies has said he has no regrets about joining the club in February 2021, even though he never made a senior appearance during his time at Anfield.
The 31-year-old signed from Preston North End in an initial £500,000 deal, with the move taking advantage of the fact he had only six months left on his contract with the Lilywhites. He was brought in as part of a defensive double-swoop alongside Ozan Kabak, who arrived on loan from Schalke, as Liverpool responded to season-ending injuries to Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.
Kabak went on to make 13 appearances for the Reds before he too suffered a season-ending injury in April. Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams then finished the campaign as Jurgen Klopp's first-choice, albeit makeshift, centre-back partnership.
Loan Move and Realisation
Davies was named as a substitute on eight occasions without making an appearance, before being sent on loan to Sheffield United following the returns of Van Dijk, Matip and Gomez from injury. Having not been turned to by Klopp when the side was defensively-stricken, Davies knew the writing was on the wall that summer regarding his Liverpool future.
Despite the experience, he insists he is glad he made the move and revealed it has played a pivotal role in the rest of his career. "The reason I think that I was there in the first place was they were looking in that position," he said. "There were a few that were injured and I think my profile fitted: English and I was playing well at the time.
"It was a good experience and I'm glad I did it. It would have been nice to have played at some point, but I think I realised once I didn't play in the season when I joined and then it got to the summer and the injured lads were coming back."
Impact on Career
Davies explained that the move helped him understand what elite players do and how they act. "It (joining Liverpool) helped me understand what the elite players do and how they act. You know, no-one's a professional footballer without being professional," he said.
"That's the reason why everyone's a professional footballer, because they've shown dedication for years before you and everyone else sees them. But seeing what the elite players do was definitely helpful."
He added: "I think the Liverpool move has made the rest of my career feel easier to move around, because I think once you go and step into a dressing room like that, it makes it easier to then go on and kind of move around. Not that I hadn't already done that loads of times and played at loads of clubs with the loans and things, but I think the self-confidence it gave me from going there was another level."
He continued: "That's the thing when you say, 'experience, you don't realise you're getting it when you're getting it.' But looking back now, those experiences have helped me be more focused on the actual game rather than the outside, because the fans only want you to do well. They only want you to win. It's not like they hate you or anything like that. It's helped me manage expectations like that and not let it affect my game."
Transfer Talks
Davies also admitted he was taken aback when he realised a move to Liverpool was a genuine possibility following 'cryptic' talks with his agent, and considered it a no-brainer to move to Anfield.
"I think the window was shutting on the Monday and it was about the Wednesday or Thursday before when my agent got in touch," he recalled in an interview with his current club, Bolton Wanderers, as quoted by the Bolton News. "And he was a bit cryptic about it, to be honest. It was like, 'What would you be thinking if this was to happen?' And I was like, 'Hang on a minute, let's be real, have we got a chance of this happening or not?'
"He said, 'Yeah,' so then I went and spoke to my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, and my dad, my best friend and my other agent, my group I'd speak to, and they all said, 'You've got to go for it,' and obviously I wanted to as well."
