According to Sky Sports, Liverpool outcast Ben Davies is attracting attention from Championship duo Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City ahead of the 2022/23 season. The Englishman was a surprise January signing for the Reds amid the injury-stricken 2020/21 season. The loss of their recognised centre-back trio of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez left Jurgen Klopp in a pickle at the turn of 2021.

This forced Liverpool to dip into the January transfer market to sign Ozan Kabak (on loan) and Ben Davies to mitigate their losses. While the former did make first-team appearances, the latter is yet to play a single minute for Jurgen Klopp’s senior side. The arrival of Ibrahima Konate last summer, coupled with the other options already back available, meant Klopp more or less had his four centre-back options set in stone for the 2021/22 season and beyond. This leaves Davies in a precarious position, as first-team minutes are nowhere on the horizon.

Perhaps as an indicator of what is to come, he was excluded from Liverpool’s squad that flew out to Asia for their pre-season games. With plenty of time yet to go in the summer transfer window, the 26-year-old is attracting attention from several second-division clubs. Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers both require the addition of quality to compete for their promotion bids. In Davies, they will be landing a player who is not just proven in the Championship but also is a veteran of sorts. He has over 260 games under his belt and has shown signs of quality more often than not.
At 39, Phil Jagielka is not getting any younger and will need to be replaced. While Stoke do have other centre-backs, namely Aden Flint, Harry Clarke, Ben Wilmot and Harry Souttar, they lack a proper defensive leader who can lead the rearguard for the upcoming future. Davies has experience of doing just that at Preston North End and will be an asset at the bet365 stadium. Daniel Agger has urged Davies to seal the move away if he wants regular game time.