Transfer insider Dean Jones has claimed that one player reportedly on Liverpool’s radar could soon ask to leave his current club.
The Reds have been heavily linked with Ryan Gravenberch in recent days and weeks, with Dutch publication De Telegraaf reporting last month that the Bayern Munich midfielder’s representatives met with a delegation from Merseyside.
More recently, Fabrizio Romano tweeted that the Anfield club are ‘waiting’ on a scheduled meeting between the 20-year-old and the Allianz Arena hierarchy regarding his future with the Bundesliga champions.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Jones has now said: “Gravenberch is keen to understand how he is viewed at Bayern Munich at a time when he has only started one Bundesliga game all season.
“The 20-year-old midfielder is eager to prove himself at the very top of the game but if Bayern do not give enough encouragement about his game time it is expected he will request a move.
“That is a moment that Liverpool must wait for, with Jurgen Klopp eager to find out more, and the hope is that they should have news in a month.”
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Although Romano said that Bayern intend to keep Gravenberch for next season, the Netherlands international – who was described by his former Ajax youth coach Brian Tevreden as a ‘dominant’ midfielder (Liverpool Echo) – remains a peripheral figure in Munich.
As Jones highlighted, he still has just a solitary start in the Bundesliga since joining from Ajax last summer, with his 29-minute appearance off the bench against Hertha Berlin on Sunday the most he’s played in a match since mid-February (Transfermarkt).
Game-time has clearly been an issue at the Allianz Arena, but that shouldn’t be the case if he moves to Anfield, with Liverpool being left with a threadbare midfield unless investment is made in the summer.
Four of Klopp’s current options in that part of the pitch will have left the club by the end of June (Transfermarkt), while Thiago Alcantara is facing a spell on the sidelines as he undergoes surgery on a hip problem.
If Bayern are unable to provide the guarantees that Gravenberch is seeking, and he indeed submits a formal transfer request, expect the Reds’ links with him to accelerate into overdrive.