Reds have a winner in Davies
LIVERPOOL’S bargain buy Ben Davies will quickly prove wrong the trolls who wanted a glamour signing.
That’s the view of Phil Carden, who in his role as Southport boss persuaded Davies to drop down into the Conference in 2015, when he was still a raw teenager at Preston.
Carden said: “You look at the Liverpool keyboard warriors – who don’t know anyone who isn’t on their FIFA games. They are going, ‘Why are we signing a Preston player?’.
“But Ben has been at different places and has learned his trade.
“You have to admire that journey. So I hope all these nuggets who have cast him aside before he has kicked a ball are proved wrong. I am sure he will win them over.”
Although Davies, who was snapped up by Liverpool for £1.6million, spent only a month at Southport, he has kept in touch with Carden, now in charge of Warrington Town in the Northern Premier League.
“He texted me after he’d moved to Liverpool, admitting it had been a whirlwind time, but he couldn’t wait to get started,” said Carden (above). “He won’t be thinking that he’s made it and become a big-time Charlie. He will know it’s his work-place where he has to crack on and make things happen.
“He is a hard-working lad who wants to learn and wants to live the right way. To me it looks like one of the shrewd signings that Liverpool seem to pull out of the bag every so often.
“Obviously the cost is minimal – some players in the Premier League earn what Ben cost in just a couple of months.
“Liverpool improve players. Ian Rush didn’t do too badly coming from Chester, did he?
“But at times Liverpool have paid millions for flops. To me they have made a very shrewd signing.”