Coming to a team that suits him, Ryan Gravenberch seems to be starting to develop in a top environment, as expected.
Joining the Ajax academy at the age of 8 and scoring in his debut in the Dutch Cup in the 2018/2019 season, Gravenberch quickly became an important player at Ajax. In total, Gravenberch made 103 appearances in all competitions for his boyhood club, scoring 12 goals and providing 13 assists.
Coach Brian Tevreden, who promoted 12-year-old Gravenberch to the U15 Ajax team, once said: “Physically, I see him as similar to Frank Rijkaard because he is tall and very strong. But technically, I can say he is He’s a better version of [Paul] Pogba during his best days at Juventus. He’s very dominant like Pogba and that’s what I see in Ryan.”
Pogba became the most familiar comparison for Ryan Gravenberch throughout his development until he moved to Bayern Munich last summer. Ironically, like the French midfielder after leaving MU to join Juventus in the same summer, Gravenberch’s journey this past season was not easy. He struggled on the Gray Tigers’ bench and was sold to The Reds after only 1 year.
This morning, the Red Brigade did not have a favorable situation when Leicester City took an early lead in the third round of the League Cup. After seeing their team trail by one goal in the first half, fans were less than pleased with Gravenberch’s performance.
But as the match continued, Liverpool’s new signing began to find his rhythm. The important thing is that the Dutch player found the position of Cody Gakpo, who leveled the score for The Reds at the beginning of the second half. That was a beautiful assist from Gravenberch, the second assist in the second half. The match he started for Liverpool.
Receiving the ball from Wataru Endo on the edge of Leicester’s penalty area, the 21-year-old advanced towards the goal. Switching the ball from his right foot to his left, Gravenberch made a neat pass to Gakpo, his compatriot did not miss the opportunity.
The performance of the former Ajax star received much praise on social networks. Even though it wasn’t a perfect match against Gravenberch, he still did very well and showed why he was compared to Pogba – once the top midfielder in the world. Against the Foxes, the young midfielder had 3 important passes in 65 minutes of play, including 1 assist. He passed the ball successfully at a rate of 81%, and in his home field passed the ball successfully 100% of the time.
Gravenberch contributed a lot in defense with 1 tackle, 2 times regaining possession, and 4 ball recoveries.
After providing a nice assist for Luis Diaz at LASK last week, Gravenberch is showing what he can offer this team. Jurgen Klopp took Gravenberch off the field with 25 minutes left on the clock. He was replaced by Dominik Szoboszlai, who increased the score to 2-1. A great night for Liverpool’s summer signings.