As fantastic as Liverpool's transfer policy has been in recent seasons, they left themselves woefully in one area ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.
While nobody could have foreseen the injury crisis that would develop at that position in the months that followed, entering a campaign with only three centre backs (two of whom have a history with injuries) was always a recipe for disaster.
Liverpool managed to battle their way through the issues for some of the campaign, but it became evident towards the end of 2020 that reinforcements would be needed in that area during the January transfer window.
The lack of activity on that front for most of the month infuriated the club's supporters.
Instead if bringing in the very much needed recruits right at the start of January to give Jurgen Klopp the help he needed, the owners waited until the final hours of the window. While all of this was going on the team imploded in a dramatic fashion.
Liverpool supporters had resigned themselves to the fact that no new signings would be coming through the door when news of a move for Preston's Ben Davies broke.
Their reaction was incredible to see, with the £2.5million signing of a 25-year old defender with no Premier League experience causing genuine jubilation. It was an example of just how low FSG had set expectations.
✍️ Welcome to the Reds, Ben Davies.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 1, 2021
Of course, Liverpool would also go on to sign Ozan Kabak on loan deadline day. However, both deals would only come after the news that Joel Matip was also ruled out for the remainder of the season.
The cynic in you would suggest that the Kabak signing, one that was turned down earlier in the window, was only sanctioned after the extent of the Cameroon international's issues became clear.
In fairness, the Turk has performed well in the intervening weeks. He has certainly justified the signing and Liverpool could be wise to take up the option to sign him permanently this summer.
On the other hand, Ben Davies has yet to feature for the club.
He has been in and out of the matchday squad, but has yet to actually make it onto the field of play. In all, this could go down as one of the strangest transfers in Premier League history.
The whole method of signing a new centre back during the January transfer window was bringing in somebody who could contribute immediately.
This made Davies an odd fit right from the off. He had no top flight experience at all, and considering Klopp often gives his players a number of months to acclimatise to his style, getting a Preston defender up to that level in a short period of time seemed incredibly unlikely.
With the club now entering a defining period in their season, there is little chance of him getting any playing time in the coming weeks.
This leads to the question - what was the point in signing Ben Davies in the first place? All evidence would point to this being a purely money making exercise for Liverpool.
Davies' contract was set to expire this summer, meaning Liverpool were able to negotiate a very low fee for his transfer. They could easily sell the defender this summer for three or four times what they paid for him.
It is becoming increasingly this was the main motivation for the deal. If he happened to contribute over the remainder of the season then so be it, but the financial aspect was likely to difficult to pass up.
In all, this is likely to go down one of the odder playing stints we have seen in the Premier League era.
SEE ALSO: The Worst Premier League Signings Of The 2020/21 Season
