When the best signings of the season are being debated, Curtis Davies is worthy of a mention. Chris Harvey looks at the impact the defender has had on Hull City as they prepare for their first FA Cup final appearance against Arsenal.
Thursday 15 May 2014 08:02, UK
There are those who will garner more headlines, sell more shirts and yield bigger profits, but when the best signings of the season are being debated, Hull City's Curtis Davies is well worthy of a mention.
The £2.25million Steve Bruce paid Birmingham for the centre-half last summer was not inconsiderable by the Tigers' standards, but in Barclays Premier League terms it represented pocket change.
By comparison, Liverpool paid Paris St Germain around seven times as much for Mamadou Sakho in the transfer window, while Cardiff shelled out nearly four times the fee for Steven Caulker in the same domestic market.
The 29-year-old is definitively not for sale, with Bruce more likely to part with his right arm than the man who was named Hull's player of the year by a landslide, but if he did, the asking price would surely stretch into eight figures. There were even those touting Davies for a call-up to Roy Hodgson's World Cup squad with the defender receiving a large number of votes from Sky Sports users via oue England squad selector.
Bruce has enjoyed significant success with his recent forays into the transfer marker, with the arrival of Tom Huddlestone from Tottenham a major sign of intent and the January captures of Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic solving the team's goal shortage in an instant.
But none has been as influential as Davies.
He arrived as a well-regarded Championship defender, having scooped successive player-of-the-year awards at St Andrew's, but with something still to prove in the top tier.
By the time he leaves Wembley on Saturday, whether an FA Cup winner or a runner-up, he can consider that mission accomplished.
His career looked set to take off in a big way in 2008, when Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill agreed to stump up £8million for his services, but it was a move that will not be remembered fondly by either party.
Davies rarely showed his best form at Villa Park, but was also a victim of injury lay-offs and inconsistent selection, and when he exited for Birmingham it was with the tag of expensive flop.
His determination to invert that in East Yorkshire has been apparent from day one.
When he first met the press this season he declared himself ready to take on some of the world's brightest attacking talents, even going as far as to suggest he had been able to coast through the Championship at times.
It was a bold claim, but one his towering displays in black and amber have supported week in, week out.
Davies was handed the captain's armband a matter of weeks into his Tigers career, leading the side out when regular skipper Robert Koren missed the fifth game of the season.
That he seemed the unanimous choice says much for his impact in the previous four and it is a role he has now been awarded on a permanent basis.
If there were any doubt Bruce had chosen his right-hand man wisely, it was dispelled in 15 minutes during last month's cup semi-final.
Hull were 2-1 down to League One opponents Sheffield United and playing horribly when Davies launched into a half-time speech that will one day pass into Hull's folklore.
How delicately the balance between tub-thumping and tirade was struck can only be guessed, but it left Bruce in silent awe and the Tigers went on to win 5-3.
Davies, for his part, admitted only to "rattling a few cages".
Should the same treatment be required again on May 17, and with Arsenal hungrier than ever to end their trophy drought it may well be, Hull could not hope for a better man to administer it.
