Ryan Gravenberch showcased his talents in just over an hour-long spell for Liverpool in the Merseyside derby.
The Reds took home the lion’s share of the spoils on the afternoon, though John Aldridge highlighted one concern he had about the Dutchman following on from a £34.2m summer move to Anfield – the player’s fitness levels.
“Ryan Gravenberch was the best player on the pitch for the first 25 minutes, which was a really positive point,” the former Red wrote in his column for the Liverpool Echo.
“The one problem about him is the fact he hardly played for Bayern Munich last year has meant he is lacking match fitness and tires quite quickly as a result.
“Gravenberch could be a really good buy once he is fully up to speed.”
There’s more than a grain of truth in the ex-striker’s comments, with our 21-year-old signing having only played 937 minutes across the entirety of the 2022/23 season for Bayern Munich.
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A grossly underrated player in Munich
To put things into context, Gravenberch has already played more than a third (347) of his total minutes last term for us in 2023/24 so far and we’d very much expect him to exceed that aforementioned total come May.
To be completely fair to Thomas Tuchel, the shape at Bayern did mean that our latest Dutch addition faced a great deal of competition for a small number of places in the starting-XI.
However, judging by what we’ve already witnessed this season, it would be far from controversial to suggest that our recruitment team have landed quite the bargain at £34.2m.
As such, Aldridge is absolutely right on the money with his verdict. Just you wait until he’s fully up to speed!
#Ep94 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️