Reigning Premier League champions, Liverpool have signed Ben Davies from Sky Bet Championship’s Preston North End for an undisclosed fee.
Davies’ arrival comes as Liverpool face a defensive crisis with several defenders including Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez amongst others sidelined through injury.
The 25 year-old is ‘delighted’ to make the switch after several years at the Lilywhites having come through their youth academy, although he admitted that Liverpool’s interest ‘came as a bit of a surprise’ but feels that this is an ‘incredible’ opportunity.
Davies however is looking forward walking out of the iconic tunnel at Anfield onto the pitch, saying: “I haven’t actually walked out of the tunnel yet, so I’m looking forward to that. Just to be in this kind of atmosphere is brilliant.”
It has been confirmed that Davies will wear the no.28 shirt and Reds manager, Jurgen Klopp has spoken of seeing the quality and potential which the 25 year-old has alongside various qualities.
Speaking on Davies’ attributes which made him an attractive buy, Klopp said: “He is a really good footballer, looks like a proper leader in this Preston team, good in challenges, looks football smart, can play different positions because he played in a back three and a back four and all these things.”
Preston manager, Alex Neil has already spoken on Davies’ departure to Liverpool as he admitted that he knew that if a Premier League opportunity came up for one of his young players, he would allow them to make the switch to experience ‘an incredible opportunity’ of playing top-flight football.
Neil also acknowledged that Davies’ move to Liverpool is ‘an incredible achievement’ for the club but hopes that the defender goes on to enjoy success, saying: “I think he’s got the potential and the attributes in terms of his pace and his comfort on the ball to be a really top player…”
Sepp Van Den Berg meanwhile has gone the other way on loan for rest of this season as he joins Preston, where he will wear the no.2 shirt and is ‘happy’ to make the move in hope of regular football.
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