Liverpool poised to octuple their money with Celtic, Middlesbrough battling for Ben Davies transfer

Liverpool are seeking to generate eight times what they paid for Ben Davies in 2021 with Celtic and Middlesbrough preparing to make their moves, per a report.

Rewind to January of 2021 and Liverpool were in the midst of a debilitating injury crisis. Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip were all long-term absentees. That led to Fabinho and Jordan Henderson deputising at centre-half, though that severely weakened Jurgen Klopp’s midfield.

Liverpool rushed to find reinforcements once the winter window opened and landed a pair of unlikely stars.

Ozan Kabak arrived on loan from Schalke, while Davies signed on the dotted line from Preston North End.

Kabak helped steady the ship alongside Nat Phillips. When Kabak succumbed to the injury bug with five games to go, it was Rhys Williams that filled the void.

That left Davies without a senior Reds debut and once the injured stars returned, the writing was on the wall.

He was loaned out to Sheffield United last season and per the Liverpool Echo, has been earmarked for sale this summer.

The outlet state Scottish champions Celtic are battling Middlesbrough for his signature. While neither have yet lodged an official bid, the pair have both made direct contact with Liverpool.

Celtic, Boro interest in Ben Davies explained

Celtic reportedly came close to signing Davies before Liverpool swooped in January, 2021.

Boro, meanwhile, are managed by Chris Wilder who was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Sheffield Utd to sign the defender in the months leading up to his departure.

The Echo add Liverpool are aiming to generate around £4m from Davies’ sale. That would represent a profit of eight times the £500,000 they paid Preston.

£1.1m of add-ons were included in Davies’ arrival at Liverpool. However, they were performance-related and it stands to reason the targets have not been met.

Liverpool transfer masterstrokes continue

While much has been made of the extremely high success rate the Reds have with purchases, enough cannot be said about their sales.

Liverpool look on course to generate around £15m each for Neco Williams and Nat Phillips. Combined with Takumi Minamino’s £15.5m move to Monaco, the Reds will have collected over half of the final sum they’ll pay for Darwin Nunez.

Transfer chief Michael Edwards is due to leave Liverpool and is responsible for much of the club’s roaring success in the market.

However, the reins have been passed to understudy Julian Ward who took the lead on Luis Diaz’s arrival in January. Clearly, the Merseysiders are still in good hands in the market.