Oxford United officially confirm former Liverpool defender to return to club
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Oxford United have confirmed that five players including a former Liverpool defender have officially now left the club at the end of the 2025/26 season. Image Credits: Imago ImagesOxford United have confirmed that one of their most experienced loan defenders will return to his parent club this summer.The EFL is full of players whose names ring a bell for top-flight fans without them ever really seeing them play, and every now and then one of those careers crosses back into focus when a loan spell ends and a familiar name pops up on a retained list or club statement.In this case, the familiar name for Liverpool supporters is Ben Davies, the centre-back who has officially headed back to Rangers following the conclusion of his loan at Oxford.Davies was at the centre of one of the most eyebrow-raising bits of business of the Jurgen Klopp era.
Drafted in from Preston North End during the injury-ravaged 2020/21 season, he arrived as an emergency solution at a time when Liverpool’s senior centre-halves were dropping like flies and the club were scrambling for cover.The deal was understood to be worth an initial £500,000, with a further £1.1 million potentially payable in performance-related bonuses, while Sepp van den Berg headed to Preston on loan for the remainder of the season as part of the agreement.What made the deal so unusual, and so memorable, was what happened next – or rather, what didn’t.Despite all the noise around his signing, Davies never made a competitive appearance for Liverpool, quietly slipping behind the likes of Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams in the pecking order as the season wore on.He said of his time at Anfield back in 2023:“When I went to Liverpool I couldn’t get many minutes in the team. So when they were building up the team, doing 30 minutes, 45, 60 then 90, I was getting five or 10.”“So when I went on loan to Sheffield United and then here [Rangers], I had to go from getting five to getting 90 minutes.”“I’m grateful for the opportunity [at Liverpool] and the experience.
It opened my eyes to the top level and what the best players do, day in day out.”Not long after, he was back out on loan in the Championship with a loan at Sheffield United for the 2021/22 season and then sold on permanently to Rangers for an initial £3 million, with the total fee potentially increasing to £4 million if certain add-ons are met.Davies sees his Rangers contract expire at the end of this season, and it will be interesting to see where one of Liverpool’s strangest transfers ends up. Ben Davies Oxford United