If a club is heavily interested in a player at one stage then it’s reasonable to think that they’ll keep tabs on them if a future move is possible, but it’s also an easy rumour to recycle on a quiet day in the future.
Realistically, Ben Davies is going to leave Liverpool this summer. He was a panic signing when their defence was crippled with injuries a couple of seasons ago, and he was never realistically going to become an important part of the squad.
That’s become pretty clear due to the grand total of zero Premier League appearances that he has under his belt, and he eventually returned to the Championship on loan last year with Sheffield United.
Celtic do need to add depth to the defence so revisiting the rumour makes a ton of sense, you would even hope the club would also take another look at him, even if that heavy interest came under a different manager.
The problem is that the latest reports are suggesting that Liverpool want around £4m to let him go, and that would give them a decent-sized profit over the nominal fee they paid to Preston a couple of years ago.
On one hand, you can understand Liverpool’s logic – they signed him when his contract was running down so that didn’t represent his true market value, so perhaps £4m is around the price that Preston could’ve got for him in normal circumstances if he was under contract for longer.
On the other hand, what leverage do Liverpool actually have in this situation? He’ll turn 27 later in the month so he’s never going to blossom into an elite defender that will get into their Premier League squad, while it’s also suggested that he’s under contract until 2025 so there’s no chance that Liverpool want to pay him until then just to occasionally play in the Carabao Cup.
It’s a big if, but if Celtic do see enough in him to take a chance then the only way this can make sense is a loan move with an option rather than an obligation to buy, while you would also want to see Liverpool take on a decent portion of his wage.
That’s going to be a last resort for them which means any transfer like that is unlikely to be sanctioned until very late in the window, and it means that Celtic’s attention really needs to be elsewhere.
Forget this nonsense. Could have signed 2 years ago but chose the money knowing he was never going to play. Better options for less money.