Dutch midfielder Ryan Gravenberch had an up and down first season at Liverpool after joining from Bayern Munich last summer, playing 38 times in all competitions
Ryan Gravenberch has blossomed into the player that Cody Gakpo always knew he could be, but it has taken a helping hand from Arne Slot.
Dutch midfielder Gravenberch had an up and down first season at Liverpool after joining from Bayern Munich last summer, playing 38 times in all competitions in what proved to be Jurgen Klopp’s final season.
Injuries and fluctuating form meant that he never quite nailed down a place in Klopp’s best XI though, but when Slot arrived it was clear that the former Feyenoord boss had a plan in mind for his fellow countryman from the start.
Placing him in the deepest midfield position, Slot has used Gravenberch to both break up opposition attacks and start ones for Liverpool, with the 22-year-old blossoming into perhaps the Premier League’s most impressive midfielder this season.
Gakpo, another Dutchman, is certainly impressed, and the former PSV Eindhoven attacker says that the union of Gravenberch, formerly of Ajax, and Slot, an ex-Feyenoord manager, is turning into a special one.
“We [the Dutchmen at Liverpool] knew Ryan already from the Eredivisie when he played at Ajax, and I think everybody knew already that he is this good,” Gakpo recently told Men in Blazers, via Liverpoolfc.com.
“After, he made a move to Bayern Munich and maybe he didn’t play that much over there, but still everybody in Holland knew how good he could be when he was playing.
“And I think maybe the manager also knew this. At the beginning of the season he put him in a slightly different position but he gave him the confidence to play there.”
Gravenberch has started all 11 Premier League matches for Liverpool this season as well as playing the full 90 minutes in all four Champions League games, and Gakpo is delighted for him international team-mate, with the taking on Bosnia in Zenica on Tuesday evening.
“Ryan showed his quality at that position, grabbed his chance as well and turned out to be a good match. He is playing outstandingly for us this season.
“I’m very happy that we can see the Ryan we as Dutchmen already knew, but now he can show it to the whole world. I’m very proud of him.”
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