Ben Davies’ mid-season move to Liverpool has admittedly not gone as planned for the defender.
Signed on January transfer deadline day from Preston North End, the 25-year-old is yet to make his Reds debut after joining alongside Ozan Kabak, with Nat Phillips emerging as the senior man in the Liverpool backline during the second half of the season.
Rhys Williams has been the man to step up as his defensive partner in recent weeks after Kabak was sidelined by injury, with Davies suffering his own mysterious setback to ultimately leave him unavailable just when opportunity fell his way.
Regardless of any potential recovery, Williams is likely to retain his place alongside Phillips on the last day of the season as Jurgen Klopp ’s men look to cement what had once looked like an unlikely top four finish.
Having failed to make an impression at Anfield, it is no surprise that there is a question mark hanging above Davies’ Liverpool future.
After all, the Reds only moved for him as a cut-price option with his contract at Preston set to expire this summer, at a time when both Celtic and Burnley were looking to strike a deal.
Opportunities are likely to remain lacking for Davies when the injured trio of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all return in pre-season.
However, that does not mean all is lost for the defender.
With Liverpool unlikely to sign Kabak permanently from Schalke, the Athletic are reporting that Davies has been told he still has a future at Anfield despite his lack of game-time.
And he only need look to one of his team-mates for inspiration when trying to forge an unexpected Reds career.
Phillips might be the Liverpool success story this season, emerging when his side needed him most in the midst of a defensive injury crisis, but he could have easily been plying his trade in the Championship this season.
The centre-back was left out of Klopp’s Champions League squad at the start of the season in expectation of a move to the English second tier, having spent last year on loan at VfB Stuttgart.
However, when a move failed to materialise, he faced the prospect of at least half a season on the sidelines at Anfield, waiting for a mid-season move.
Phillips had only made one Reds appearance to date, courtesy of a brief recall from Germany in January 2020 to face Everton in the FA Cup, but, like Davies, he had found himself ruled out through injury when earlier opportunities would have presented themselves in the League Cup and FA Cup in 2018/19.
But the defender hasn’t looked back since making his Premier League debut against West Ham in late-October, featuring 19 times this season and scoring his first Reds goal last time out against Burnley.
While it remains to be seen what is next for Phillips once Van Dijk, Gomez and Matip return, he has proven himself to be Premier League quality and Klopp will have no qualms turning to him next season if he does not seek a move away from Liverpool.
But while Phillips is the perfect example of the value of short-term patience to Davies, one former Reds rival can also demonstrate how best to open the door to the first team after an uninspiring start.
Branislav Ivanovic has endured a season to forget of his own at West Bromwich Albion after joining the Baggies on a free transfer last summer.
Suffering relegation, the 37-year-old has made 13 appearances for the West Midlands side but swiftly fell out of favour under Sam Allardyce with just three of those outings coming in 2021 and the defender not even being in the West Brom matchday squad for 13 of their last 15 matches.
However, while his time at the Hawthorns has not been a success, that is a stark contrast from his first stint in the Premier League with Chelsea.
Making 377 appearances, scoring 34 goals, in nine seasons at Stamford Bridge, the Serbian is considered a legend and was a three-time Premier League winner during his time with the club.
Also winning the Champions League, the Europa League, three FA Cups and a League Cup, it is easy to forget, considering such a C.V., his start to life at Chelsea was reminiscent of Davies’ at Liverpool.
A £9m signing from Lokomotiv Moscow in January 2008, Ivanovic failed to make an appearance during his first half-season with the club as he reportedly struggled to impress in training.
Linked with a move away the following summer, team-mate Andriy Shevchenko helped convince him to stay at Chelsea and the rest, as they say, is history.
Handed his debut against Portsmouth in the League Cup in September 2008, a Premier League debut at home to Aston Villa was forthcoming the following month.
And while he was limited to just 16 Premier League appearances in 2008/09, a famous brace against Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League quarter-finals proved to be the turning point with Ivanovic cementing his place as first-choice from thereon in for the next seven years.
While it might seem a stretch at this point to suggest Davies could go on to replicate Ivanovic's success, the same would have been said about the Serbian during his own early months at Chelsea.
Of course, such longevity will not yet be on the Liverpool man’s radar as he continues to target that Reds senior debut.
But the examples of both Phillips and Ivanovic should offer the perfect inspiration to Davies should he be getting cold feet about his Liverpool future this summer.
