Whereas Jurgen Klopp’s departure meant it was a summer time of transition for Liverpool final 12 months, new boss Arne Slot didn’t oversee a busy switch window.
Italian ahead Federico Chiesa was the one new face to reach in the summertime, whereas Liverpool additionally did a deal for Giorgi Mamardashvili that can see the Valencia goalkeeper arrive this summer time after remaining on the Mestalla on mortgage.
This was regardless of loads of hypothesis that Slot was after a brand new no.6 to bolster his midfield choices, because the likes of Spain’s Euro 2024 winner Martin Zubimendi had been linked. No deal materialised there, however with Liverpool sitting on the prime of the Premier League , into the Carabao Cup remaining and thru to the Champions League last-16, it’s clear Slot has been in a position to greater than make do together with his present midfield choices.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has put in Ryan Gravenberch as his No.6 (Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
That is largely right down to the type of Ryan Gravenberch , who has began each Premier League recreation for Liverpool up to now this season and is now delivering on the promise that earned him a £34million transfer to Anfield from Bayern Munich in 2023, with the 22-year-old ranked at No.9 in FourFourTwo’s listing of the perfect defensive midfielders on the earth in December.
Former Liverpool head of analysis Ian Graham left the membership shortly earlier than Gravenberch moved to the membership, however had beforehand monitored the Netherlands worldwide, and he has been impressed how Slot has been in a position to convert him right into a top-class No.6.
Ryan Gravenberch signed for Liverpool from Bayern Munich in the summertime of 2023 (Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
“In Gravenberch’s first season at Ajax, he immediately popped into our scores as the most effective under-21 midfielders in Europe,” he advised FourFourTwo . “He appeared like a future famous person – it was a shock to me that he didn’t actually get an opportunity when he moved to Bayern Munich , and I don’t suppose he appeared sensible when he did play there.
“That’s the place interpretation is so vital, although. What place was he enjoying? What formation had been Bayern enjoying? Was it just like Ajax ? Was he being allowed to do the issues he was good at?
“The spectacular factor is Arne Slot has made him into extra of a no.6 – he was extra of a box-to-box midfielder at Ajax.”
Gravenberch arrived in the identical switch window that noticed the membership signal Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister , because the membership rebuilt a midfield that had just lately seen the likes of Sadio Mané, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson transfer on, with Mac Allister one other participant who has excelled in an unfamiliar place.
Ryan Gravenberch (left) was a part of Holland’s Underneath-17 World Cup-winning squad in 2018.
“Alexis Mac Allister was a no.10 in Argentina, he nonetheless wears that quantity, however he struggled in that position for Brighton when he initially got here to the Premier League,” he continues. “I bear in mind pondering, ‘Why have Brighton signed him? He’s struggling as a ten’. It was when he took a step again into midfield that issues modified.”
Gravenberch is now valued at €55million by Transfermarkt and at simply 22 years of age, is a long-term answer for Liverpool in that place. This may very well be important forward of the summer time switch window, because it means the no.6 place is boxed off at a time when the membership is battling to maintain maintain of influential trio Trent Alexander-Arnold , Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk , who’re all within the remaining weeks of their present contracts.
