Ben Davies looking to go from strength to strength after settling in at Sheffield United on loan from Liverpool

For now, though, the centre-half is focused on one thing – performing for the Blades.

Davies, who could have become a Blade a lot earlier after being identified as one of former manager Chris Wilder’s top defensive targets, instead moved to the bright lights of Anfield in January as Jurgen Klopp’s men looked to somehow survive a defensive crisis that, at one stage, robbed them of all their senior centre-halves.

In the end, Davies did not play a first-team game for Liverpool and admitted recently that the prospect of not pulling on his boots at the weekend had a psychological effect on him.

But it also affected him physically, and only now – after six weeks or so and five games as a Blade – is the 26-year-old former Preston man starting to feel back to his best and fittest.

"It took me a few games to get bedded in and get strong and resilient again in my body,” Davies said. "Hopefully the fans can see a lot more of what I can do."I came in after the international break and we did a fitness test, which was one minute on, 30 seconds off, basically until you couldn't run anymore.

“I felt really strong in my lungs and fit in that sense but then in a game I’d play consistently well for 60 minutes, then 30 I'll feel fatigued. The next time it'll be 80 minutes.

"After those games it would take me two or three days to recover because my legs are just tight and fatigued. But the more games you play, the less time it takes to recover and the stronger you feel throughout the games.

"The last couple of days have been the best I've felt since going in the right direction. It's been managed really well by the staff here, they've looked after me really well.

"They've taken it out of my hands, really. I'm just ready to play football when I can."