Koppen tasked with reported £9.6m Rangers damage control over star not seen since December
03/05/2024 08:30
As the Rangers team are tasked to stand up and be counted, Ben Davies continues to be posted missing.
In a tight title run-in and with a Scottish Cup Final on the horizon, given the budgetary constraints of Scottish football you'd expect a £4m defender to be up front and centre leading the charge.
That is, after all, why Ben Davies was signed.
And yet, as Connor Goldson's shaky form sees the Rangers stalwart deposed for veteran Leon Balogun, Davies is so far out of the picture at Ibrox you'd be forgiven for forgetting what the ex-Liverpool defender looks like.
Whilst the Anfield giants might never see the extra £1m sewn into the £3m transfer for the 28-year-old, the centre-back's situation at Rangers is intensified by a Celtic sliding doors moment.
Davies looked Celtic bound before Rangers move
As our Old Firm rivals struggle to get it right at the heart of their defence, Ben Davies came close to a transfer to the Parkhead club in 2021.
Whilst captain of Preston North End, the Englishman's Championship form looked destined to earn him a mid-season move to Celtic before Liverpool took a cost-effective plunge on the defender in the midst of an injury crisis.
It had then Celtic manager Neil Lennon lamenting the Reds for 'gazumping' his team in the transfer market.
But a series of injuries and a lack of opportunity hung over Ben Davies on Merseyside, the centre-back never playing a first-team game for Liverpool.
Fast forward 18 months to the summer of 2022 and the defender was moving to Ibrox.
Under the management of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Davies was supposed to be the left-footed ying to Connor Goldson's right-footed yang and a summer of post-Europa League Final investment initially heralded positivity.
But a series of injuries later and suddenly the Parkhead side looked to have dodged an expensive £27k per week bullet which Rangers' flailing player trading model has taken square on the chin.
Perhaps it's a lesson to Rangers not to target centre-backs who once headed Celtic's transfer shortlist.
Only in the summer did the Parkhead side splurge over £7m on centre-back duo Gustaf Lagerbielke and Maik Nawrocki only for them to be almost immediately deemed surplus to requirements.
Koppen faces £9.6m Rangers damage control
The situation brings into focus Rangers' recruitment of the last few seasons under former sporting director Ross Wilson.
Whilst things are taking a new direction under ex-PSV guru Nils Koppen, the Belgian and his recruitment board are tasked with both moving Davies on and signing a more reliable replacement.
This has already proven no mean feat.
Rangers refused to sanction a cut-price Stoke City loan deal for the defender because the Potters refused to meet the Ibrox club's demands.
It's a situation which proved disruptive amid Ibrox links to Leicester's Harry Souttar.
Picking up that healthy £1.4m per year pay packet, Ben Davies still has two years to run on his contract and seems to be made of glass.
Making only four Scottish Premiership appearances this season – and not seen since the 3-2 Europa League win over Real Betis way back in December last year – the centre-back's regular appearances in Europe point to a player not built for the rigours of Scottish football.
Whilst we have no doubts Rangers will be eager to cut their losses, trying to find someone to take a punt on the shy defender is a complex problem.
Should Davies run down his Rangers contract in the background of the club, the deal could wind up costing the Ibrox side a quite incredible £9.6m between transfer fees and the defender's salary.
One of the club's highest earners, far from look set to back up Rangers' trophy ambitions, Nils Koppen is tasked with preventing Ben Davies becoming one of the most expensive flops in our history.
