[4] He wrote to every club in the local area, including Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur and Millwall asking for a trial.

[16] The club were unwilling to allow him to leave unless their valuation was met, but Davies himself felt the asking price was too high for a player who had "been part of a relegated team".

[19] He made his Villa debut in a 1–0 League Cup defeat to Leicester City on 27 September, afterwards comparing his performance to that of a pub team player:[20]I was just awful.

[26] Manager Martin O'Neill had said in April that he "[didn't] expect to see him back until October or November time",[24] but Davies was fit to start Villa's UEFA Cup match against Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar on 14 August.

[29] In contrast, a week later, Davies scored the second of Villa's three goals away to Liverpool with a header from a corner-kick in first-half stoppage time, in what BBC Sport's reporter called "an outstanding defensive display".

During his absence, Villa brought in defenders James Collins from West Ham United and Richard Dunne from Manchester City.

[31] He returned to action as a second-half substitute in the FA Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion on 23 January, replacing Stephen Warnock.

Following this, Davies told journalists that he felt O'Neill had not given him a fair chance and that he hoped a new manager would give every member of the squad a clean slate.

[41] He made his first-team debut in a 3–1 home defeat to former club West Bromwich Albion in March, coming into the starting eleven in place of the injured Martin Jiránek.

[42] His first goal for the club came when he opened the scoring with a header from a Jordon Mutch corner on 6 August 2011 as Birmingham went on to lose 2–1 at Derby County.

[43] In Birmingham's first match in major European competition for nearly 50 years, the Europa League play-off round first leg against Portuguese club Nacional, which finished goalless, Davies made a well-timed tackle from behind to prevent Mateus opening the scoring.

[44] On 25 June 2013, Davies moved to newly promoted Premier League club Hull City on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee, reported by BBC Sport as "understood to be around £2.25 million".

[45] He made his debut on the first day of the 2013–14 season in a 2–0 loss away at Chelsea,[46] and scored his first goal for the club on 14 September against Cardiff City, when he headed home Tom Huddlestone's precise cross from six yards.

[50] On 7 June 2017, Davies signed a two-year contract with Championship club Derby County for an undisclosed fee following Hull's relegation from the Premier League.

[53] In September 2019, Keogh sustained a serious knee injury in a car crash after which two team-mates were charged with drink driving, so Davies regained both his starting place and the captaincy for the next match, against his former club Birmingham City.

[56] In August 2021 however, Davies rejoined the club after the EFL allowed Derby to sign out-of-contract players providing strict wage limits were adhered to.

[62] This was confirmed on 8 July 2022, as Davies signed a 1-year deal to extend his stay until 2023[63] Davies was named club captain by interim manager Liam Rosenior ahead of the 2022–23 League One campaign,[64] but he struggled for game time during the season under Rosenior and new manager Paul Warne in the first half of the season due to injuries.

[65][66] After his return, Davies lost his place in the starting eleven as Warne favoured Eiran Cashin, Craig Forsyth and Jake Rooney in the centre back role, however after a loss of form by Derby in spring of 2023, Davies won his place back in the team with four games of the season remaining.

[80] In October 2023 at age 38, Davies was called up to the Sierra Leone national team squad for their friendly matches against Benin and Somalia.

[87] In June 2020 Davies gained a first class honours degree in professional sports writing and broadcasting from Staffordshire University.