Ryan Gravenberch has sent a clear ultimatum to Bayern Munich amid ongoing links over a possible summer move to Liverpool.
The Dutch midfielder joined the German champions from Ajax last year but started just three Bundesliga games in his first season at the Allianz Arena, two of which came towards the end of the campaign (Transfermarkt).
He’s made no secret of his dissatisfaction with his lack of game-time, a point he reiterated in a recent interview with ESPN Netherlands.
Gravenberch told the outlet: “I expected to play more minutes than I did. I thought I would get some more chances. It’s about just wanting to play, that’s the most important thing at my age. I hope this can happen at Bayern Munich, otherwise we’ll just have to look further.
“I told everyone that I don’t want another year like that. Of course you can’t always be in the starting XI, but you can still play regularly, you can get a lot of minutes.”
Two things in particular can be gleaned from the 22-year-old’s comments, which were made ahead of his involvement for Netherlands in the European Under-21 Championship, where he played the full game in his country’s opening 0-0 draw against Belgium this evening.
One is that he claims to still be hoping he’ll see an increase in his game-time under Thomas Tuchel at Bayern, and his public utterances could be a message to the club’s hierarchy that he isn’t prepared to sit through another season of being a bit-part player.
The other is his warning that he’ll “have to look further” if he doesn’t get the minutes on the pitch that he wants, which could well pique the ears of Liverpool’s powerbrokers amid his ongoing links with the Reds.
It seems as if Gravenberch is prepared to hang tough in Munich for now but would jump at the chance to go elsewhere if he isn’t given reassurances over his involvement in the team.
The 2023/24 Bundesliga season starts on 18 August, two weeks before the transfer window closes, so he may have a strong idea by the end of that month as to how prominently he’d be likely to feature for Bayern next term.
Even if a move for the Dutchman doesn’t happen in the summer, Liverpool’s hierarchy could be optimistic of striking thereafter if he’s still unhappy with his game-time in Bavaria.