Ben Davies is the longest-serving member of Tottenham Hotspur’s squad. He has made more than 350 appearances under six permanent managers and this will be his 11th season in north London. To top it off, he finally won a trophy with them in May.
However, there is uncertainty around his long-term future. Davies was entering the final months of his contract last season but Spurs triggered a one-year option in June. The Wales international mainly played at centre-back under former head coach Ange Postecoglou but he started his career as a full-back.
Spurs have five senior centre-backs, excluding Davies, following the arrival of Kota Takai from J League side Kawasaki Frontale this summer, and an exciting prospect in 18-year-old Luka Vuskovic.
Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie will battle it out to be new head coach Thomas Frank’s first-choice left-back. Davies’ experience is invaluable, but how much game time will he realistically receive if he stays? Could he be playing for a different club when the transfer window closes?
“That is not necessarily under my control,” he tells a group of journalists, including The Athletic, at an event in Hong Kong. “I reported for pre-season and I’m excited to be here. My focus is on how I can help this club this year and if something changes, I’m sure I will be picking up that call. Right now, I don’t see anything else.”
Davies was a part of the squad under former head coach Mauricio Pochettino which challenged Leicester City for the Premier League title in 2015-16 and lost the 2019 Champions League final to Liverpool. He missed their Carabao Cup final defeat by Manchester City two years later through injury. When the full-time whistle went in Bilbao after Spurs had beaten Manchester United in the Europa League final, Davies was relieved that they had “got that monkey off our back”.
“It was that desire and desperation to win something no matter what it was,” he says. “We have come close, we have fought, we have lost games where we could have won and been in better situations. When that final whistle went it was just relief and happiness that we knew we were going into a new season as champions of a European competition. It was a special memory.”
Spurs’ success in the Europa League helped to mask an awful domestic campaign. They lost 22 games and finished 17th in the league. They suffered embarrassing defeats at home against relegated sides Ipswich Town and Leicester City. Spurs underperformed, even though an injury crisis did not help. Postecoglou was sacked two weeks after the final.
“It was one of the strangest seasons of my career,” the 32-year-old says. “It was tough at times. In the league, we were probably lucky to be in that situation because we weren’t anywhere near the level we could be. At the end of the season, you could see where the priorities had shifted. Ultimately, when you look back in the history books, I don’t think too many people are going to care.”
Frank was appointed as Postecoglou’s replacement in June and he signed a three-year contract. Matt Wells is the only surviving member of the Australian’s backroom staff as Frank brought several people with him from Brentford, including Justin Cochrane, while Cameron Campbell, Fabian Otte and Andreas Georgson are external new hires.
“Having someone like Pochettino, as I did for five years, is rarely happening at clubs anymore,” Davies says. “With a new manager, it’s a chance to develop.
“Thomas had an amazing time at Brentford and one of the things you saw from that team was how intelligent they were, how they fought against the odds to succeed. I’m looking forward to working and learning under him.”
In pre-season games, Spurs have looked more resilient under Frank than they did under Postecoglou. Frank, 51, has mainly used a 4-2-3-1 formation that offers the defence better protection. The full-backs are still encouraged to push forward but not at the same time, while Frank’s defensive line is slightly deeper. Spurs scored from a set piece in their first friendly against Reading and did not panic when Arsenal bombarded them with corners during the north London derby in Hong Kong on Thursday, which Spurs won 1-0.
“When we came in, we had a meeting about what was expected this year and where (Frank) thinks we can improve as a team,” Davies says. “You can see the value that they put on certain aspects of the game, how there is low-hanging fruit where you can pick up goals that turn into wins for minimal effort.
“We have been working on that in pre-season and some different tactical aspects, a bit more structure in the team. The most important thing he said to us is that we are in four big competitions this year and we have proven we can be up there with anyone. We have to have a go in each one of them.”
As one of the senior members of the squad, Davies is often responsible for helping new signings and younger players to settle in. He has a good relationship with Archie Gray and his international team-mate Brennan Johnson. The latter scored the winning goal in the Europa League final at the end of a campaign where he temporarily deleted his social media accounts due to the abuse he received.
“Brennan’s a really good guy,” Davies says. “He came into the Wales squad when I had been there for a while and you could see instantly we had a likeable character who is down to earth. I was delighted when he joined Spurs.
“He knows where the goal is and does a lot of stuff that people don’t pick up on, but he’s always in the thick of the action. He was playing a role (last season) where there might have been times he wasn’t getting on the ball and ultimately a big part of his game was just being in the right place at the right time and he’s one of the best at that.
“As you could see in those crucial moments in the big games, he stepped up and no more so in the final. I was delighted for him and his family.”
It is no secret that Davies is best friends with Tottenham’s captain Son Heung-min. They have been team-mates for a decade and have become club legends for winning a trophy when other fan favourites, including Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, left to fulfil their ambitions. Now they are both in the same situation with only a year left on their remaining deals. Los Angeles FC are interested in signing Son but there has not been an official bid yet.
“He’s older than me, so when it comes to advice, he needs to be the one leading it,” Davies says. “We go through different moments in our careers all the time and he has one year left. There’s some uncertainty around what’s going to happen with him, but he has been nothing but professional in the last few weeks.
“If there was none of the talk in public about what was happening, I don’t think you would know. He’s kept his head down. He’s worked hard and what will be will be.”
Davies says that he was “proud” of the South Korea international when he lifted the Europa League trophy because “he put so much effort in” and is “one of the people that it takes a toll on the most when he is so focused on success and such a talented player”. They have shared intimate moments with their families away from the pitch but Davies selects a game against Brighton & Hove Albion in April 2023 as his favourite.
“It was when he got his 100th goal in the Premier League,” the defender says. “That was something that he’d been striving for for a long time. We had a celebratory dinner at my house with a few of his mates. It was really nice to see someone who puts in so much effort get that.”
The question now is how much longer Tottenham’s two longest-serving players will stick around.
Ben Davies was speaking at a session organised by family literacy charity Bring Me a Book Hong Kong to inspire young people to read as part of Tottenham Hotspur’s traditional support for local charitable organisations on overseas tours
(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)