The football rise of Ben Davies: Preston North End to Liverpool via York City, Tranmere, Southport, Newport and Fleetwood

Here is a player who was prepared to put in the hard yards, 'get his head down' to use football parlance, go out on loan to gain experience.

Signing on the dotted line at Anfield will be the next step for Davies and he'll be ready to meet such a huge challenge.

Davies put in the hard yards - actually the motorway miles - from primary school age in his football development.

Born and bred in Barrow, North End signed him for their academy and that meant his parents ferrying him down the M6 from Cumbria to Preston twice a week.

He moved through the age groups at the academy, earned a scholarship, then at the age of 17 was invited to join in training with the first-team squad.

Graham Westley was the manager to brought him into the first-team fold and handed him his debut against Coventry City in January 2013.

Davies played two more games in the couple of weeks after that, including Westley's infamous last match in charge at Yeovil.

Simon Grayson replaced Westley and he lent more on experience for the remainder of that season, Davies dropping out of the picture.

He spent the whole of the 2013/14 season on loan at York City, playing 47 games as the Minstermen reached the League Two play-off semi-finals.

Davies' form at York had not gone unnoticed at North End, with Grayson choosing to play him at left-back at the start of the 2014/15 campaign.

It had been left-back where he had made his debut for PNE and the position where in the main he played for York.

He had a six-game run - four in the league and two in the League Cup - a tough afternoon against Sheffield United winger Jamal Campbell-Ryce resulting in that run coming to an end.

Davies was loaned out to Tranmere Rovers a few weeks later, making four appearances for the Wirral club.

Being on loan was something the defender was to get used to over the next couple of years.

After a League Cup appearance for PNE at the start of the 2015/16 season, Davies dropped into non-league to join Southport.

He played eight times there and then in the second-half of that campaign went on loan to Newport County in League Two.

It was a successful time for Davies in terms of development, playing 20 times for the South Wales outfit.

At one point North End tried to call him back to cover for injuries in their defensive but the fact it was an international loan - Wales was a cross-border move - meant he couldn't be recalled.

The pattern of starting the season at Deepdale and then being loaned out continued in 2016/17.

Davies played the League Cup games against AFC Bournemouth and Newcastle United.

He had to wait until January 2017 for his loan though, Fleetwood Town taking him over to the Lancashire coast.

He flourished with the Cod Army, making 26 appearances, importantly in his development operating as the left-sided defender in a back three rather than at left-back.

Davies made such an impact there that Fleetwood put a deal in place to sign him that summer, reportedly for a fee of just £50,000.

What stopped that going through was Alex Neil's appointment as PNE manager in July 2017.

Aware of Davies' talents after having him scouted during his time as Norwich boss, Neil wanted to have a closer look at him back at Preston.

Davies played the League Cup defeat at Accrington and then was included in the side for the Championship game at Derby County.

He's never looked back, going on to be a mainstay in PNE's back line ever since.

Davies' career stats to date show 145 appearances for North End, the bulk of them since the summer of 2017.

You can add to that 104 games in his five loan spells, that such an important grounding.

He's making a huge step-up by going to Liverpool but what an exciting opportunity for him.

It seemed he was on his way to Celtic, having had talks just last week about a pre-contract agreement which would have taken him to Glasgow in July.

Reports were run in Scotland that Davies had actually signed the agreement, however those claims were premature.

No PNE supporter would begrudge him this move even though he leaves a big hole to fill at the back.

It is a shame his contract had run down to the point where the fee Preston will get for him is nowhere near his true value. However, as of 11.01pm on Monday night his value in the transfer market would have been nil had he stayed at Deepdale.

Until the weekend, North End were prepared to take the hit and let him see out his contract before accepting he would leave on a Bosman.

Liverpool's interest naturally changed that way of thinking and now Davies is heading-off to work with Jurgen Klopp.

Should the Reds in the future choose to cash in on him, North End have a sell-on clause. That is some ways makes up for the low fee they will get immediately.

January and the first day of the February has been the changing of the guard at Preston.

Davies follows Ben Pearson and Darnell Fisher through the Deepdale exit door, all stalwarts of the team under Neil.

Pearson and Fisher have side-stepped in the Championship, for Davies this is a huge stride forward and one where all North Enders will wish him the very best with.

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