DAVIES CAN COPE WITH KOP
JURGEN Klopp is backing Ben Davies to step up from Preston North End to the champions.
The Reds will fork out just £500,000 up front for the 25-year-old with another £1m in add-ons.
Liverpool had little choice but to bring in a defender after losing Joel Matip for the rest of the season.
He joins Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez in the treatment room for months to come.
Klopp admits that Preston would not have been the obvious place to look for an instant replacement for Matip.
Davies isn’t the only one arriving as Schalke stopper Ozan Kabak has joined on loan for six months with the view to a permanent move.
Excited
But Klopp believes the former Preston man can cope with the step up in grade.
The German said: “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’.
“The fact that he said yes to signing 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.
“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% in development. I’m sure he wants to learn still, we are ready to teach still, to coach still.”
Davies has yet to play in the Premier League but has been a regular in the rough and tumble of the Championship for the past five seasons.
Klopp thinks that will serve him well as he’ll be the kind of player that rolls his sleeves up and gets stuck in.
He added: “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.
“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.
Recovery
“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.”
Klopp is hopeful that Matip will make a full recovery and be back for next season.
He said: “He injured his ankle against Spurs and played the game on and now is out for the season, so you can imagine how much he tried to stay on the pitch and tried to help us.
“We will wait for him. He has now the rest of this season, then the summer, then the preseason to get ready again and he will be ready again.”