The Ryan Gravenberch Effect - From Bayern Reject, to Liverpool Star Boy
Ryan Gravenberch joined Liverpool in September of 2023 with a five-year deal penned and the fanbase buzzed with excitement for the player we just bought. Spending a reasonable amount of £34.3million on the Bayern player, there was a mixed reaction to the signing, with some questioning why we bought a player that couldn't make it at Bayern Munich. Others said it was just a cheap option to satiate the fans and look like the owners were doing something.
Nonsense, as usual.
What people failed to realize is the player we were looking to get from Bayern was not the disheartened Dutchman who only played 938 minutes across 33 games for the German side in the 22/23 Bundesliga season. But the player Liverpool were after, and seen, was the man from Ajax, who featured in 42 matches and played both as a defensive and central midfielder, instrumental in the Dutch giants winning the Eredivisie in the 21/22 season before his move to Bayern.
The Ajax Star Boy
The Ajax Academy is renowned for its talent production, keeping the team well-funded for years and still competitive in the Dutch league year after year. When Ajax were denied the chance to have back-to-back titles during the COVID-19 season seen without a trophy despite being clear of second place with a game in hand at the time of the league being suspended.
The Academy, known as De Toekomst - or, the future - provided one player in particular. An 18-year-old Ryan Gravenberch started 21 out of a possible 23 matches and placed his marker as one of the best up-and-coming talents in the world by showing his quality.
The Bayern Reject
When Ryan Gravenberch was asked about his time at Bayern Munich and his frustrations, he was quoted as saying; "Honestly, yes I am. You want to play, but the coach picks other players. I have to accept it, but it's difficult. I was hoping for more minutes but I have to stay calm.
"Maybe the coach will give me more minutes after the international break."
So, why didn't it work out with Bayern Munich?
Ryan Gravenberch did not get along with Julian Nagelsmann at all. Nagelsmann was particularly bothered by Gravenberch’s lack of defensive work. In the game against Plzen when Bayern conceded two after Gravenberch came on, he was considered responsible by the staff.
In the January friendly against Salzburg, Gravenberch was supposed to get 90 minutes but was subbed off at the break because, according to Nagelsmann, he was jogging back in some of Salzburg’s attacks. Nagelsmann singled out Gravenberch in the dressing room in front of the whole team.
In the talks before his transfer, Bayern had promised Gravenberch to get enough game time in his first season and expected Nagelsmann to stick to it, that’s why Gravenberch rejected United. However, the coach was never really convinced, which frustrated the Dutchman.
Gravenberch himself is said to have internally mentioned the idea of leaving the club, but Hasan Salihamidžić quickly made it clear the Dutchman would not leave in the summer. Following the departure of Nagelsmann, Gravenberch wanted to take his chance under Thomas Tuchel.
Bayern's Trash is Liverpool's Treasure
Liverpool signed Ryan Gravenberch officially on the 1st of September, 2023, following the club announcement.
The 21-year-old arrived at Merseyside with a clean slate and a manager who made his money pushing belief into players who prior to Liverpool, didn't have much. Jurgen Klopp was the man who would pull the player out of Ryan, and he would thrive on the pitch. We saw cameos of Ryan throughout the season but were never able to cement himself into the starting lineup, either through inconsistencies, or injury.
We saw flashes of the brilliance that Gravenberch had, with fantastic goals being scored and an intelligence about the game that few possess. It helped that his national teammate and current club captain, Virgil van Dijk was one of his biggest supporters within the club, celebrating immensely with any goal Ryan scored.
The Arne Slot Effect
Following the departure of Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool found the next man to bring them back to the top of the mountain in Arne Slot from Feyenoord, who had seen plenty of Ryan in his early years at Ajax and would be very familiar with his game.
During the summer, Arne noted how pivotal the defensive midfielder position was in his system, and previously, Liverpool had a ''Destroyer'' in those positions. Now, under this new system, a change would be needed. This saw targets shift to the likes of Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi, a ball-playing defensive midfielder adept at carrying the ball forward and progressing the ball from the back line to the forwards with passing and dribbling. We all know how that signing went, however, with the deal all but done and Zubimendi changing his mind at the 11th hour and leaving Richard Hughes, in his first season as Liverpool Sporting Director, with egg on his face.
But this now opened the door for Ryan to shine, with a lot of fans worried and concerned over whether or not the young Dutchman can play the position or be cut out for it at this level. It's one thing to perform at Ajax in the Eredivisie, but to do it in the Premier League is a different level of skill.
Gravenberch stands at 6’2” and this allows him to hold his own physically but he also is very agile and quick with his feet. The midfielder operates in a double pivot on the left side and is an all-rounder in regards to his movement; he looks to help out in the build-up phase, often dropping into the backline to create a numerical advantage, or receiving on the half-turn and looking to drive the ball forward, but he also looks to advance, particularly towards the left-wing where he can link-up play in the final third.
Gravenberch is a very good progressive passer of the ball and often looks to break lines with his passing, whether that be from deeper areas or looking to move into the final third. The 22-year-old can disguise his passes so that there is less chance that the opposition will predict the pass and intercept, while he also has a good weight of pass and rarely under hits his passes into players between the lines.
Thanks to his uniqueness, of being agile and quick with his feet while having a large frame and stature, Gravenberch can roll his opponent and then drive with the ball at his feet, and when he does drive, thanks to the mixture of power and technique that he has, he does so very effectively.
Gravenberch has a very, very impressive awareness of the pitch and how to move to receive and also to know when to turn on the ball, which is an amazing skill to have in the middle of the pitch. He recognises space in the build-up and often moves to help his team progress the ball, whether that means he moves into a zone to receive, or that he drags an opposition player so that his teammate can receive.
Gravenberch also often scans before he receives and this means that he knows when he can receive on the half-turn and progress so that he is not limiting progression when receiving in the build-up. This also allows him to be a good midfielder ahead of the ball, as he is good at receiving in more advanced areas.
So far this season, Ryan has been blowing people away with his performances in a position in which many Liverpool fans were crying out for reinforcement following the fall off of Fabinho in previous years.
It seems Liverpool have found their man.
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