Though his time at Liverpool was a mystery to many fans as he failed to make a single appearance, Ben Davies claims he did “benefit” from it.
Davies is one of the most intriguing signings of Jurgen Klopp‘s time at Liverpool, joining amid a centre-back crisis in 2021 only to never play for the club.
A £1.6 million arrival from Championship side Preston, Davies made the bench eight times but only ever clocked 55 minutes on the pitch during pre-season friendlies.
After a campaign on loan with Sheffield United in 2021/22 – playing 22 games – the defender then joined Rangers on a permanent deal worth £4 million last summer.
Now he is a regular starter under Michael Beale, but it took him time to regain his fitness, as he explained this week.
“When I went to Liverpool I couldn’t get many minutes in the team,” he told reporters including the Glasgow Times.
“So when they were building up the team [in pre-season], doing 30 minutes, 45, 60 then 90, I was getting five or 10.
“So when I went on loan to Sheffield United and then here, I had to go from getting five to getting 90 minutes.”
It is a situation that Davies rightly describes as “hard for my body to adapt to.”
However, while the 27-year-old believes he needs a “good pre-season” at Rangers before he is finally able to show his best form – which will be two-and-a-half years on from joining Liverpool – he still sees the “benefit” from his time at Anfield.
“It opened my eyes to the top level and what the best players do day in, day out,” he said.
Davies added: “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 an idea of what it would be like to reach the top. But to see it first hand was good for me.”
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