Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill heaped praise on Rangers midfielder Steven Davis and shared the club did ask him about the player previously.
The international manager revealed that in his opinion Davis made players around him better and was very effective as he just went about his doing his business.
“Steven doesn’t have a Roy Keane-style of leadership and isn’t that type of midfield player. He just goes about his business and is very effective,” said O’Neill, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
“What he is best at is making other players around him better. That’s one of his biggest qualities. He isn’t an intimidating player either.”
O’Neill then revealed that he thought there was no risk to the Gers bringing the 34-year-old back to Ibrox before sharing the Scottish giants asked him directly about the midfielder.
“Rangers have a top player and they are getting him at a good time. He’s focused. There’s no risk to bringing him in at this age. He wants to be there,” continued O’Neill.
“When Rangers asked me about him I said he’ll play in any of the three midfield positions.
“Whether it’s two holders or one holder and two advanced, they have a lot of options. He’ll take a few of their younger players and make them better.”
OPINION
It should be no surprise that O’Neill is a fan of Davies given their Northern Ireland connection, but the level of praise he heaps upon him is pretty high. Aside from tipping him for success at Ibrox, O’Neill seems so in awe of the midfielder’s ability that he did eventually go onto claim that Davies will one day be dubbed one of the “top five” players Northern Ireland have ever produced. So that is some pretty high praise indeed. Hopefully the 34-year-old is able to live up to O’Neill’s glowing endorsement as if he does then Steven Gerrard will be praising himself for bringing Davis to the club, as a player like the Northern Ireland boss describe will make a huge positive impact at Ibrox. Davies did feature in the recent 2-1 loss to Kilmarnock, he played 70 minutes of the match, and managed to grab an assist. While it was a disappointing day due to the Gers suffering a defeat, Davies didn’t exactly let himself down with his display.