Ryan Gravenberch is only in the infancy of his Liverpool career, but he’s already bridged a decade-long gap in terms of one feat at Anfield.
Since joining from Bayern Munich on transfer deadline day four weeks ago, the 21-year-old has made four appearances, coming off the bench in two Premier League games and starting in the Europa League against LASK and Carabao Cup against Leicester (Transfermarkt).
The latter two matches both saw him register an assist, setting up Luis Diaz to score in Austria and Cody Gakpo to equalise against the Foxes last night.
He duly achieved a curious statistic which may have evaded most people’s attention but not that of OptaJoe Football Data Editor Michael Reid, who posted on X: “Ryan Gravenberch is the first player to assist a goal in both of his first two starts for #LFC in all competitions since Jordon Ibe in August 2013.”
Ryan Gravenberch is the first player to assist a goal in both of his first two starts for #LFC in all competitions since Jordon Ibe in August 2013. #LIVLEI
— Michael Reid (@michael_reid11) September 27, 2023
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If someone were to put that in the form of a question (i.e. who was the last to achieve it before Gravenberch), we suspect not too many would’ve guessed Ibe correctly, even if the winger managed four goals and seven assists across 58 appearances in total for Liverpool (Transfermarkt).
His first start came on Jamie Carragher’s final Reds appearance against QPR in May 2013, when he got the assist for Philippe Coutinho’s winner. On his second start in a League Cup clash against Notts County three months later, he set up Jordan Henderson to round off a 4-2 win after extra time (Transfermarkt).
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It seems remarkable to think of the plethora of players signed by Brendan Rodgers and Jurgen Klopp in the intervening decade who couldn’t repeat that feat until the Dutchman did it in the games against LASK and Leicester.
It bodes well for the impact that Gravenberch could make at Liverpool that his first two starts have both delivered goal contributions, recording as many of those in four games for the Reds as he managed in 34 for Bayern Munich (Transfermarkt).
Ibe never fully kicked on at Anfield after such an effective start to his career with the club, but hopefully the Dutch midfielder can make a more long-standing impact throughout his time on Merseyside.