Liverpool FC and Scottish giants Rangers have come to an agreement for the transfer of Ben Davies for a fee of £4m.
The 26-year-old has been chosen as Calvin Bassey’s replacement because he is close to joining Dutch powerhouse Ajax.
According to reports, the Gers have agreed to sell Bassey to the Eredivisie champions for a club-record sum of €22 million (£18.7 million). And that could increase to €27 million (£22.9 million) with add-ons.
The 22-year-old Nigerian, who Rangers acquired from Leicester City in 2020 for about £230,000, traveled to Amsterdam on Sunday for his medical before agreeing to terms on a four-year contract.
Rangers closing in to sign Ben Davies
The Guardian reports that Rangers are prepared to finalize the £4 million signing of Davies. Liverpool acquired him in January 2021 for about £500,000.
Prior to receiving a call from Jurgen Klopp, Davies was close to signing with Scottish powerhouse Celtic.
Before completing his long-awaited switch to the Reds, Davies had a productive seven-year run with the Lilywhites in League One. He also has played regularly in the Championship, appearing 145 times in all competitions.
Due to injuries, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Joel Matip were all out for the long term. That’s when Liverpool looked to the Englishman as a backup option.
Davies, however, never received a call from Klopp. And is yet to play one senior game for the club in any league.
Davies was playing on loan for Sheffield United during the 2021–22 season. And is getting closer to promotion to Glasgow, where he will play regularly for the main team.
After their 2-1 friendly victory over Blackpool on Saturday, Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst stated that the team would need to replace Bassey before the upcoming season.
He said to Sky Sports:
“The squad is well at the moment. We changed the players who left and got new players in but with Calvin maybe going as well, we have to look for another player to add to the squad.
We have our list ready. So, once the deal is done, we can work on another player coming in.”
This summer, the Rangers have already signed center defender John Souttar on a free transfer. And they have also brought in Antonio Colak, Tom Lawrence, Rabbi Matondo, and Malik Tillman.
