'Contortionist' Gravenberch was mentored by Manchester United boss but is now wanted by Klopp and is 'better than Bellingham in EVERY way'
Ryan Gravenberch's arrival at Liverpool prompted Andrew Robertson to joke that the club had finally landed a good Dutch player.
While Gravenberch may not have the pedigree of fellow Dutch side Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo, his strong start on Merseyside proves he is not just good but great.
Former Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic hailed the Dutch midfielder as “one of the biggest talents in Europe” after completing his £21million move from Ajax last summer.
But after having only made six starts for the Bavarians, Gravenberch He looked for pastures new and Liverpool swooped on him to achieve their long-term goal.
He joined the reds on transfer deadline day for £34million and has already started five times for his new club, registering two goals – double the amount he managed during his entire time at Bayern.
Gravenberch scored in his best performance to date while Liverpool beat Toulouse 5-1 and Jürgen Klopp warned that there is still a lot to come of his new star.
“A good player, eh? I told him when he came off the pitch: Good player! I'm very happy for him, because he's starting to enjoy football again,” Klopp told TNT Sports.
“You can tell. His first touch is incredible, how strong he is in tight spaces. He’s not even halfway there, but he’s really promising.
“He has a lot of things to improve, that is very good news. He is very young and has a lot more ahead of him. Very good.”
“I really like him as a lad and as a player. It's nice to see that he's starting to believe in himself again,” added the Liverpool manager.
“That’s very important. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, which is good. There’s a lot more to come, and that’s good.”
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Gravenberch is the player who has benefited most from his move to Anfield out of the four midfielders Liverpool signed this summer.
The 21-year-old is living up to his label as one of the most highly-rated young players in the world.
Ironically, Klopp is enjoying the fruits of current Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag's labour following his rise through the ranks at Ajax.
Gravenberch has been compared to Frank Rijkaard for his blend of physicality and technical quality, having broken two of Clarence Seedorf's records as Ajax's youngest player and youngest goalscorer.
Brain Tevreden, who left Ajax's academy in 2016, gave Gravenberch his debut for the club's under-15s when he was just 12.
“Physically, I see Frank in him from before because he is tall and very strong,” Tevreden said. Goal .
“But technically, I would say he is a better version of Pogba in his prime at Juventus, in terms of his technique and his presence on the pitch.
“He is very dominant like Pogba was, and that is what I see in Ryan.”
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Gravenberch has drawn comparisons to Pogba on numerous occasions, but prefers not to base his game on any real player.
Instead, he has a more singular take on his own playing style and has compared his time in the middle to that of an acrobat.
“I would say: a contortionist,” he said. The word“I can slide and turn anywhere. And I have extendable legs. It's pretty handy, too.
“I'm tall, 1.80m tall. People often say that tall players have less technique, but I have to rely on my technique. By the way, I have a bad header for a tall footballer. As a child, it was difficult for me.”
Gravenberch had already said previously First division football“I'm a bit of a snake. Long, quite narrow and I slip everywhere. I can learn a lot from Paul Pogba, he's a bit of a snake too, haha.”
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The 1.99m tall powerhouse stepped up and became a regular at Ajax under Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.
And Ten Hag already made his feelings about his former protégé clear last year, when he told a German outlet Sport 1: “He is very important for our team because he is a player who plays very well all over the field.
“He accelerates outside of positional play, dribbles well, has tremendous passing ability and participates in the construction of the play.
“Because of his athleticism and physicality, he is also strong in transition play and can also recover balls. He has come a long way, but he can still learn a lot.”
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Gravenberch's strengths as a powerful, progressive No. 8 have made him the ideal choice for Jurgen Klopp's energetic midfield.
He is showing that he is a goal threat, he rarely concedes possession and He's better than Jude Bellingham in everything according to Rafael van der Vaart.
But question marks remain over his work-rate off the ball and Gravenberch has even admitted that his laid-back nature has been his downfall at times.
The Dutch international was once stripped of his position as captain of his youth team, Ajax, because he did not assume the responsibility.
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“If I have to think about ten things at once, everything goes wrong,” he admitted. Life in Ajax“I consciously choose to stay calm, I like a relaxed atmosphere around me.
“As a footballer, I can sometimes hurt myself, and I realise that. Sometimes I need to wake up, I need a kick up the backside. That remains a clear point of improvement in my game.”
Since then, Gravenberch has come under Klopp's wing, with The German even gives his perfectly designed knob a loving massage..
It seemed all he needed to revitalise a career that promised so much just 12 months ago was a little splash of green – or perhaps that should be red!
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