Rangers have agreed a £4million ($4.75m) fee with Liverpool to sign Ben Davies, GOAL can confirm, with the defender set to leave Anfield having failed to make a single competitive appearance for the Reds.
The 25-year-old, signed from Preston in January 2021, spent last season on loan with Sheffield United in the Championship, but will now seal a move to Scotland once a medical is completed and personal terms finalised.
Rangers, the Europa League runners-up, have seen off interest from a host of Championship clubs, including Blackburn and Middlesbrough, to land the centre-back.
What are the details of Davies’ move to Rangers?
It is understood that Liverpool will receive a guaranteed fee of around £3m ($3.5m) from Rangers for Davies, with a further £1m ($1.25m) payable in add-ons relating to individual and team performance.
That represents a significant profit on the initial £500,000 ($593,000) fee paid to Preston in 2021 - a fee which was in fact recouped when Davies went to Sheffield United last August.
How did Davies perform at Liverpool?
Davies was a somewhat surprising signing when Liverpool bought him from Preston in January 2021.
But Davies never played a single minute of competitive football at Anfield, picking up an injury soon after joining and then seeing the likes of Nat Phillips, Rhys Williams and Ozan Kabak feature instead.
He featured on the bench eight times, but in August 2021 he was loaned to Sheffield United for the season. At Bramall Lane, he made 23 appearances, scoring once as the Blades reached the semi-finals of the Championship play-offs.
Who else could leave Liverpool before the end of the transfer window?
Davies’ departure will not be the last at Anfield this summer.
Both Phillips and Williams are expected to leave, with interest growing in the central defensive duo. Phillips, 25, has suitors in the Championship, as well as in Germany, while Williams is expected to go on loan to a Championship club.
Loan moves are also likely for midfielders Leighton Clarkson and Jake Cain, as well as forward Jack Bearne.
Tyler Morton, too, has loan interest, though Liverpool may opt to keep the 19-year-old, who made nine senior appearances last season, as cover.
The likes of Conor Bradley (Bolton), Owen Beck (Famalicao), Adam Lewis (Newport) and James Balagizi (Crawley) have already left on loan, while Sadio Mane, Takumi Minamino and Sadio Mane have also departed from last season’s senior squad.