Ryan Gravenberch: Liverpool’s new No. 6 and his magical ‘turns’

Since Fabinho left last summer, Liverpool have struggled to find suitable replacements in central midfield. They missed out on the duo of Moises Caicedo and Roméo Lavia to Chelsea more than a year ago, although they did manage to bring in two new signings in midfield in Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo.

Endo was quite good last season but at the age of 31 and with new head coach Arne Slot, Liverpool were in dire need of a new central midfielder. Real Sociedad’s Martín Zubimendi was the top choice. However, the Euro 2024 and Spain champion ultimately failed to make the move to Anfield.

Many Liverpool fans were disappointed when the club decided to ‘take a gamble’ on their existing players. Slot has hinted more than once that he does not consider Japanese international Endo a regular starter. And Slot had reason to do so, because he knew he had a special talent: Ryan Gravenberch.