Ben Davies has opened up on how his lack of game time at Liverpool affected him and the lessons he learnt from his time on Merseyside.
Davies spent eight years at Preston North End with time on loan at York City, Tranmere Rovers, Southport, Newport County, and Fleetwood Town before joining Liverpool in 2021. The move to Anfield came on the final day of the transfer window.
However, the centre-back failed to make a single first-team appearance for Jurgen Klopp’s side during his time at the club. Liverpool signed Davies for just £500,000 initially which they made back during the 2021 summer transfer window by way of the loan fee paid by Sheffield United to take the 29-year-old for the 2021/22 campaign.
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Davies then departed the Reds on a permanent basis last summer. The defender joined Rangers in a £4m deal, signing a four-year contract with the Ibrox club.
“When I went to Liverpool I couldn’t get many minutes in the team," Davies revealed. “So when they were building up the team, 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.
“When you get your break in the off season you are doing your running but that was the problem for me because I was doing running and then more running when I really needed to be playing some games so I could get my rhythm going."
Despite failing to make a competitive appearance for the Reds, Davies is in no way bitter about his time on Merseyside. Instead, he believes a glimpse behind the scenes at how things work at one of Europe’s elite clubs allowed him to settle so successfully at Rangers.
He said: “No, 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 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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