New Liverpool signing Ben Davies will have to wait for five games to make his debut.
The Reds confirmed the capture of the center-back from Preston North End on transfer deadline day as sporting director Michael Edwards and manager Jurgen Klopp had a busy few hours.
Takumi Minamino headed out to join Southampton on loan, while Schalke defender Ozan Kabak walked through the door as the clock ticked down to zero.
Kabak comes with the pedigree of featuring heavily in the Bundesliga, but Davies is more of an unknown quantity. The 25-year-old has never featured above the Championship before, but now he’s been signed by the biggest club in the country.
There’ll almost certainly be an adjustment period for the defender, who may have to wait until the match against Sheffield United on the 28th of February for his debut.
If Klopp was going to wait for any fixture to have Davies his first start for Liverpool, it would be against the toothless Blades.
Sheffield United are famously shy in front of goal and they’ve scored just 12 goals all season. Davies should find that clash a much easier introduction to life in the Premier League, and life with the Reds, than any of the previous five.
Liverpool will make Ben Davies wait
The next handful of fixtures are considerably tricker ties than the Blades represent. They are:
- Brighton (3rd Feb)
- Manchester City (7th Feb)
- Leicester City (13th Feb)
- RB Leipzig (16th Feb)
- Everton (20th Feb)
Brighton will probably come too early for Davies to make an impact – he’ll be lucky to find a place in the stands to watch. City will be too strong an opposition to risk a top-flight rookie, as are the Foxes.
Davies won’t be picked for the Champions League clash either, even if he was to be registered. As for the Merseyside derby, well, would you want to throw a new kid to the wolves like that? It would take a moment of extreme bravery from Klopp and he’s more sensible than that.