The initial expectation was that Ryan Gravenberch would have to wait for a chance at regular first-team football in Liverpool’s Premier League campaign.
However, a stroke of ill fortune for Curtis Jones has turned out to be the inverse for the Dutch international, with the former set to sit out the Reds’ next top-flight clash with Nottingham Forest at the weekend owing to his three-game suspension.
With the ‘phenomenal’ (as described by Ben Jacobs for TEAMtalk via Football365) former Bayern Munich star having firmly gripped his opportunity with both hands, his days on the bench (as far as the Premier League is concerned) might now be over for the foreseeable future.
How did Gravenberch fare in the Merseyside derby?
As the left-sided midfielder, filling our No.17’s boots, Gravenberch was the epitome of reliability in the middle of the park, completing 97% of his passes (31/32) throughout his 62-minute appearance, according to stats compiled by Sofascore.
The 21-year-old more than filled his boots when it came to his defensive duties, making three interceptions, one tackle and winning five out of seven ground duels against Sean Dyche’s men.
In short, it was everything you’d expect from Jones, right down to the minimal loss of possession (four times against Everton, which ranks well against his teammate’s average of five) and his general reliability with the ball.
Given the spirit of meritocracy that guides Jurgen Klopp’s decision-making, we’d be stunned if our No.38 was immediately relegated back to the bench as soon as the Englishman has served his sentence.
That might seem a tad unfair on a player who has been otherwise mostly faultless since our impressive 10-game run at the end of 2022/23, though is really just indicative of the abundance of quality our German tactician now has at his fingertips following a productive summer window.
#Ep94 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️