Is Ben Davies just an emergency signing by Liverpool?

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Bengaluru, Feb 2: Liverpool have been hurt severely by injury troubles since the very start of the 2020-21 season and that has seemingly hurt the Reds' aspirations of retaining their much-awaited Premier League title. Although they did lead the Premier League title for a significant period of time despite their injury troubles, now they are behind both the Manchester giants in the table and Jurgen Klopp has a big task in his hands if the Reds have to win their second consecutive Premier League title.

Almost every department has been hit by injuries at Liverpool this time out but their defence has been the worst-hit area. Jurgen Klopp's decision to start the season with just three senior defenders following the departure of Dejan Lovren to Zenit St. Petersburg caused a bit of stir among the fans as well as the pundits and Jurgen Klopp might now regret defending his decision.

Things started falling apart for the Reds with both Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez suffering potentially season-ending injuries and Joel Matip is now also out for the remainder of the season has been in and out of the team with minor niggles in recent months.

Jurgen Klopp has dealt decently with the injury crisis in his defence with versatile midfielders Fabinho and Jordan Henderson slotting in at the heart of the defence when needed. He has also used academy graduates Nat Philipps and Rhys Williams at centre-back and the duo has also fared reasonably well. However, it looked inevitable that the Reds will still bolster defensive ranks during the winter transfer window and they have done just that albeit a bit late on the deadline day.

Liverpool made two defensive additions to their squad on the deadline day with highly-rated Ozan Kabak signing on loan from Schalke with an option to make the deal permanent for just an initial £18 million, which could rise to £26.5 million with add-ons while they have also raided Championship side Preston North End for the signing of Ben Davies. The Reds have paid just an initial £500,000 ($675,000) for the 25-year-old centre-back, with a further £1.1 million in performance-related add-ons.

Liverpool have made several emergency signings the Jurgen Klopp era such as Steven Caulker and Ragnar Klavan in the past and while Ben Davies might look like another one of those at first instance, it might not be as straight-forward as it looks. The 25-year-old might have made his step up from the championship but he was one of the very best in his position in the second tier of English football.

The centre-back, who can also slot in at left-back when called upon, has been a player very much in demand from the Premier League in recent months and it would be wrong to write him off as just an emergency signing.

Davies has all the ingredients to thrive in the Liverpool side and also will get plenty of opportunities to prove his worth with van Dijk, Gomez as well as Matip possibly out for the rest of the campaign. Jurgen Klopp is a master of the art of identifying talents and helping them improve and he has done it at both Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund in the past. And a young, versatile and hungry acquisition like Davies has everything in his locker to emerge as a Jurgen Klopp masterstroke.