Jurgen Klopp has praised Ryan Gravenberch’s start to his Liverpool career after the midfielder scored his first goal in Thursday’s 2-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise.
The Netherlands international is yet to make his Premier League debut following his £40 million transfer deadline day departure from Bayern Munich, but he has already contributed two assists and a goal in 241 minutes.
Gravenberch had arguably his most polished effort to date in the Reds’ 2-0 success over Belgian side USG, as the Reds made it back-to-back wins in Europa League Group E with a relatively easy win at Anfield.
As a result, the 21-year-old is pushing to play against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, and Klopp outlined the attributes the new addition has brought to the side since joining from Bayern on September 1.
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“He has raw power, yeah, I am not sure a lot of people would have described him in the past, the raw power,” Klopp went on to say.
“He is technically incredibly good, the first touch is insane, the speed is top class, a really good shooter, as we saw with the disallowed Darwin (Nunez) goal, but the ball was a fireball, he is a really good player.”
“Yes, he arrived late, and yes, we play slightly differently, and yes, he needs time to adjust, which we can give him, thank God.”
“He is completely happy with that and in the groove, he realizes in each training session he is treated completely like the others, whether he starts or not, he gets even more information in specific moments, he can see what the other boys do in similar positions, he can watch it, he learns, he is a smart boy, everything is going in the right directions, that is really really nice to see.”
“[He has] assists in the other games and now he has his first goal, now it is good, long may it continue, very important for us.”
Klopp also reiterated that he does not have a clear first-choice defensive pairing after selecting Ibrahima Konate with Jarell Quansah, who earned his first European start for the Reds on Thursday.
Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, and club captain Virgil van Dijk all started on the bench for the match, and while the captain is expected to return against Brighton this weekend, the manager says he chooses his centre-backs based on merit, having used all five this season.
“We don’t differentiate between league and cup games; we just play football,” Klopp remarked. We want to win the next football game, so I didn’t make a decision on who would play. I know they can all play well together.
“The boys have a history of getting injured because they play too much.” We had that in the past and sought to share the most intense part for as long as possible.
“Perhaps after the international break it is no longer possible, and then two center-halves play all the games, which is also a possibility.” Nobody won the race, and nobody lost it. Joe Gomez performed admirably at right-back and even at center-half, indicating that they are all present and necessary.
“I didn’t make a decision; it’s just about who is now ready to go, and I hope they all return after the international break.” We’ll play Brighton first, then send them all to their respective nations before making a choice on the next game.”