When you’re playing for Liverpool and a club legend in John Barnes is comparing you to a legend of European football, you know you’re doing a lot right.
Ryan Gravenberch has been one of the standout performers in the early weeks of Arne Slot’s reign as the Reds’ head coach, with the Dutchman excelling in a defensive midfield role after an up-and-down first year at Anfield.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football, ‘Digger’ suggested that what the 22-year-old offers in the number 6 role is similar to a certain Andrea Pirlo, who excelled in that position for many years in his AC Milan days.
Barnes gushed: “Playing Ryan Gravenberch as a number 6 is a bit like playing Pirlo in a number 6 – a different type of player but more attacking, more comfortable on the ball rather than a hardworking, difficult, strong defensive midfield player.”
After years of watching Fabinho thrive as a destroyer at the base of Liverpool’s midfield, and Wataru Endo offering similar qualities in that role last term, Gravenberch is offering something different from that part of the pitch under Slot.
The Netherlands international isn’t in the same robust, teak-tough mould as his aforementioned counterparts from Brazil and Japan, but the manner in which he receives the ball on the half-turn and offers thrust with his runs from deep makes him a good fit in the number 6 berth for the Reds’ new-look approach.
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Obviously the 22-year-old still has a long way to go before cementing the legacy that Pirlo left on European football in his glittering playing days, but a series of strong displays for club and country in recent weeks suggest that our number 38 could be in the early throes of a truly career-changing season.
Gravenberch can still commendably perform his duties off the ball – his match averages of 2.7 tackles and 2.3 interceptions are the highest in the Liverpool squad for both merics so far this term (WhoScored) – so it appears that he’s striking a very nice balance in his new-found role at Anfield.
If he can go on to reach the heights that the Milan and Italy legend enjoyed, the Reds midfielder will become a very special player indeed. We can’t wait to see his star ascend even further over the next few months and years!
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