Ben Davies

[King Binny]

[article]Preston chief Peter Risdale has told of just how close Celtic came to agreeing a deal with Ben Davies before the defender's last-gasp move to Liverpool.

He told radio station talkSPORT that the deal look all but done with the Hoops.

[article]
Because it was a pre-contract with Celtic, we weren’t really involved. They had, out of courtesy, told us at the start of last week that they were trying to get the deal done.

But looking at all the media last Friday and Saturday, it was suggesting the deal had been signed. So when Liverpool enquired yesterday I had to check the status first.

We had a window of opportunity of a couple of hours to try and get the deal done with Liverpool before it looked as if he was going to finally sign for Celtic.

It’s private and confidential and it’s not for me to say what the deal is but let’s just say we are very happy with the deal, given that the alternative was he was going to go to Celtic for nothing.
[/article][/article]

[article]Speaking to TalkSport about the deal, Ridsdale said: "We're very happy with the deal, given that the alternative was that he was going to go to Celtic for nothing.

"We do have an investment in his future because we do have a sell on clause.

"We're very happy with the deal we've done with Liverpool.

"From the young man's point of view, he's been outstanding for us and to get the chance to go to a club like Liverpool I think is brilliant.

"He's an outstanding young man, he's down to earth and very professional. At our level he's looked like a Rolls Royce.

"When he was in the academy I used to go and watch him play and he stood out and was by far the best player there.

"He then went on loan to York, Newport County and Fleetwood. He's got a lot of games under his belt at adult level before he started playing for us. He deserves this chance, he's a very good player.

The move would leave PNE with just two fit centre backs for the remainder of the season, but the club have that covered too.

Sepp van den Berg has been linked with a move to Deepdale and Ridsdale confirmed that there will be a Liverpool youngster making his way to PR1.

"We've done a deal to take on loan one of their young players," he said.

"This came about in part because we were enquiring about their player anyway and once everything is tied up today, there is a lot happening, we hope to get a player back on loan for the balance of this season as part of the deal."[/article]

 

[Mystic]

Funny how the people complaining we should have signed VVD before he went to Celtic are the same people complaining that we're signing a player from the Championship. (from Twitter not necessarily from here)

 

[gkmacca]

Funny how the people complaining we should have signed VVD before he went to Celtic are the same people complaining that we're signing a player from the Championship. (from Twitter not necessarily from here)

 

[gkmacca]

[article]Speaking to TalkSport about the deal, Ridsdale said: "We're very happy with the deal, given that the alternative was that he was going to go to Celtic for nothing.

[/article]

Steven Gerrard must be peeing himself laughing.

 

[King Binny]

 

[King Binny]

 

[MomoWASright]

Why doesn’t Oli just come out and say he wants to suck him off?

 

[ibromurph]

I'll say it now. He'll probably end up being better than the 20m other CB we end up signing in this window.

 

[King Binny]

 

[King Binny]

Why doesn’t Oli just come out and say he wants to suck him off?

😛

Sorry for the spams 😳 - I personally prefer threads like this than video compilations.

 

[dmishra]

I'll say it now. He'll probably end up being better than the 20m other CB we end up signing in this window.

That's a given

 

[ibromurph]

😛

Sorry for the spams 😳 - I personally prefer threads like this than video compilations.

We take you for granted Binny.

Superb posts. None of it is spam.

 

[King Binny]

We take you for granted Binny.

Superb posts. None of it is spam.

Thanks for making me less guilty. 😀

 

[Frogfish]

If he's consistent with those examples he definitely looks like he'll fit in here.

 

[tomasjj]

Looks good!

 

[MomoWASright]

😛

Sorry for the spams 😳 - I personally prefer threads like this than video compilations.

No need for you to apologise.

 

[peekay]

The fee is 1,6 mill aswell, with only 500k upfront. So if it doesnt work out, we'll get 2-3 times more than that back if he moves on.

Oi. Buzz off with this 2-3 times more. We are just waiting for Eddie howe to get his next job. Easy 20 million for Davies if he doesn't work out.

 

[TheRedCrusade]

so that's the problem here. After seeing those passes, are we signing another VanDjik !

 

[SummerOnions]

Oi. Buzz off with this 2-3 times more. We are just waiting for Eddie howe to get his next job. Easy 20 million for Davies if he doesn't work out.

The most Bournemouth sounding name possible indeed

 

[Woland]

He’s one of us north end wools. I see him round crosby all the time. He doesn’t tower over me and I’m 5’8. I’d be surprised if he’s a 6 footer.

I see him on the beach when I'm walking my dogs like once a month and if he's taller than me it's not by much. I'm 6ft. He is however in far better shape and I think he'd probs do a better job than Rhys Williams. Just imagine Carra coming back for the season and winning the lot.

On another note, he ordered 400 quids worth of tapas from the place round the corner from me on Friday night. Big appetite or big bubble? It's a quandary.

 

[Woland]

Just wiki'd him and 28th of Jan is his birthday. Makes sense.

 

[MomoWASright]

I see him on the beach when I'm walking my dogs like once a month and if he's taller than me it's not by much. I'm 6ft. He is however in far better shape and I think he'd probs do a better job than Rhys Williams. Just imagine Carra coming back for the season and winning the lot.

On another note, he ordered 400 quids worth of tapas from the place round the corner from me on Friday night. Big appetite or big bubble? It's a quandary.

He trains at the rotunda with the smith brothers. Probably worked up a big birthday appetite.

 

[peekay]

I think he will get more time than we expect to make his mark. Underdog, playing in the championship, overlooked by big clubs. I remember when Robertson was signed, there was an article on how Klopp loved his story. Same here with maybe a little bit more as he is a central defender playing in the lower league, like Klopp's playing career.

 

[Brizzle]

Gives us the chance to get both Fabs and Hendo back into midfield which would be very useful.

 

[King Binny]

I think he will get more time than we expect to make his mark. Underdog, playing in the championship, overlooked by big clubs. I remember when Robertson was signed, there was an article on how Klopp loved his story. Same here with maybe a little bit more as he is a central defender playing in the lower league, like Klopp's playing career.

Kevin Grosskreutz is another such player who played under Klopp that comes to mind. He played 2 seasons of 4th tier + 1 season of 2nd tier German football before joining Dortmund.

 

[King Binny]

 

[tomasjj]

Now there is a happy lad.

 

[mark1975]

 

[King Binny]

[article]Jürgen Klopp has explained why Ben Davies joining Liverpool represents an opportunity for both player and club.

Defender Davies completed his move from Preston North End on Monday and has signed a long-term contract with the Premier League champions.

And, after the 25-year-old’s transfer was finalised, Klopp offered his reaction exclusively to Liverpoolfc.com…

Ben is obviously a player with a lot of Championship experience. Can you tell our fans what attracted Liverpool to him?

What I like about Ben is it just shows that each situation creates opportunities. I think it’s probably clear that in a normal transfer window, without any issues, we would not look at Preston 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.’ He’s a boy who played his whole life for Preston, is around the corner pretty much. 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.

Was the fact he is left-sided an added attraction?

No, left-sided centre-halves you don’t have that often because all right-footed centre-halves can play on the left as well; most of them prefer it probably, even. The left-footed [ones] I never saw playing on the right side. But that was not the reason. But that he has a good left foot was a reason because he has a really good left foot.

There is an element of a fairy tale story about the move so do you have to manage that for Ben himself? He has to feel that he belongs here…

That’s very important but the fact that he said yes shows he is confident. That’s exactly what we need. We could have asked and he said, ‘I’d prefer to stay at Preston or go somewhere else where I play 40-odd games per season.’ So this is a challenge but it’s an opportunity – a big, big opportunity. I see it exactly like that. We have centre-halves and what we have to bring in is different qualities and that we are all really ready for the challenges ahead of us. It can be a wonderful story and it’s all about Ben and me to make sure this story will be really great. And we believe 100 per cent in development. I’m sure he wants to learn still, we are ready to teach still, to coach still. I’m really looking forward to meeting him.[/article]

 

[peekay]

Same post as above