Preston North End defender Ben Davies is being linked with a £10m move to Premier League clubs Everton, Wolves, Newcastle United and Brighton.
The centre-back partnership which helped drag Frank Lampard’s Derby County all the way to the Championship play-off final last season has been broken up in brutal fashion.
No one at Pride Park realistically expected reigning Player of the Year Fikayo Tomori to return, especially once Frank Lampard left to take over at Chelsea, but few expected that Richard Keogh’s season would come to an end this early.
Fortunately, Derby still have the experienced Curtis Davies, Brighton loanee Matt Clarke and former Arsenal loanee Krystian Bielik to choose from. Yet, if they were planning to renew their interest in Preston North End’s Ben Davies one year after their initial interest emerged, Derby could find that the 24-year-old is no longer within their budget.
According to the Sun (23 September 2018, page 61), Derby were keen to sign one of the most underrated centre-halves in the Championship.
These days, after helping to turn Alex Neil’s free-flowing Preston side into genuine promotion contenders, Davies has admirers from higher up the footballing pyramid these days.
The Sun claims that Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Newcastle United and Brighton and Hove Albion are all interested in Davies these days, with the classy 24-year-old rated at £10 million these days.
That is a lot more than he would have cost Derby a year ago.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
