Injury crisis forced us to look in the Championship, admits Klopp after Liverpool sign Davies

Jurgen Klopp is excited by Ben Davies’ potential following his surprise switch from Preston North End, but concedes the move only happened due to Liverpool’s injury problems in the centre of defence. 

Davies joined the Premier League champions on Monday in a long-term deal reportedly worth £1.6million.

The 25-year-old made his Preston debut in January 2013 before spending time on loan at York City, Tranmere Rovers, Southport, Newport County and Fleetwood Town. 

His arrival goes some way to resolving the Reds’ issues in the heart of defence. 

Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez are long-term absentees, while converted midfielder Fabinho and Joel Matip are struggling with injuries.

That led to Jordan Henderson and the inexperienced Nat Phillips pairing up at the back for Sunday’s 3-1 win over West Ham.

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— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 1, 2021

While Klopp admits there is an element of good fortune for Davies that Liverpool came calling, the German does believe he has signed a “quality” player.

“What I like about Ben is it just shows that each situation creates opportunities,” the German told Liverpool’s official website. 

“I think it’s probably clear that in a normal transfer window, without any issues, we would not look at Preston to see if there’s a player for us or something like that. It’s not really likely. 

“But since we saw him and since our situation got clearer and clearer – the problems we had – when we saw him we got really excited about it and thought: ‘Wow.’ 

“We see the potential really. We see the quality and we see the potential as well because he’s 25 and there’s a lot to come for him.

“I love a lot about his play. He’s 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. 

“That makes him really interesting so I’m really looking forward to working with him. I know for him it’s an opportunity and I see it exactly the same for us, that it’s a really good thing to do.”