Scottish Premiership outfit Rangers are closing in on a £4m deal to recruit Liverpool centre-back Ben Davies, according to Sky Sports.

The 26-year-old hasn’t been short of interest from numerous Championship sides this summer despite spending some of his time at Sheffield United on the sidelines last season, making just 22 league appearances for the Blades during his season-long loan spell.

However, he wouldn’t have managed to record that many displays for the Reds last season with the likes of Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Nat Phillips all ahead of him in the pecking order at Anfield.

 

 

Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Middlesbrough and Stoke City were all keen to take advantage of this and lure him away from Merseyside, with the former previously prepared to offer generous terms to take him on a loan deal.

However, the Reds were pushing for a permanent agreement and that has seemingly been detrimental to Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side, with the Gers agreeing a £4m deal to lure him to Ibrox.

At least £3m is guaranteed with the rest coming in add-ons - a big profit for Klopp’s side who spent an initial £500,000 on the 26-year-old back in February 2021.

This seven-figure agreement is a deal Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side have been able to conclude because of Calvin Bassey’s imminent move to Eredivisie giants Ajax, with the Dutch side set to fork out at least €22m for his services.

The Verdict:

Boro may have been able to spend this amount on the central defender considering the fact they are set to generate an eight-figure fee for Djed Spence - and would have been justified in spending this amount considering they recruited Darragh Lenihan on a free transfer.

However, he wasn’t guaranteed to be a starter at the Riverside and this is why they are perhaps wise not to fork out a considerable amount to lure him away from Anfield.

The Clarets are in a similar situation in terms of having money to spend, though he may have had more chance of starting at Turf Moor than he would if he made the move to Teesside.

This price tag may have been reasonably steep for Blackburn and Stoke though, so it’s no surprise to see the duo seemingly miss out on him.

Jon Dahl Tomasson will want to strengthen his side ahead of the new season though, so they will be disappointed not to have sealed this agreement having been prepared to go the extra mile to try and get a deal over the line.