REPLACEMENT: Jurgen Klopp details Ryan Gravenberch plan as long-term Liverpool replacement

Ryan Gravenberch has arrived at Liverpool from Bayern Munich and Jurgen Klopp has outlined how he may be a long-term replacement for Fabinho, who joined Al-Ittihad

Jurgen Klopp previews Wolves clash
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Jurgen Klopp has outlined what role he envisages for new signing Ryan Gravenberch at Liverpool as the midfielder may replace Fabinho in a deep-lying midfield position.

After months of speculation, the Reds finally confirmed the signing of the Dutch international just hours before the summer transfer window deadline earlier this month. The 21-year-old signed on a five-year deal for an initial £34.2million fee from Bayern Munich.

It concluded a summer which saw the overhaul of their midfield, with Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis MacAllister also arriving following an exodus of players – Fabinho and Jordan Henderson both moved to Saudi Arabia, while Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner all moved on.

Klopp has now spoken about Gravenberch and how he can impact his new team for the first time following his arrival from Bayern. The former Ajax midfielder may make his debut as the Reds travel to Wolves in Saturday’s Premier League action.

Speaking in his press conference ahead of the match, Klopp explained: “I think definitely in the future he has the potential to play as a No.6. The only thing about Alexis Mac Allister – he can play the position – is, is he a classical 6 how you would draw it? Probably not. But the position in football has changed over the years.

“He’s so skilled, I don’t like to talk about the things he is not good at yet. They all have skills and yes they have to improve and he knows that, and he tries but the natural stuff is there and all the other stuff takes time and that is how it is. He is an 8, he can play as a 10, definitely and yes, in time, he can play as a 6. Like Curtis [Jones] could play as a 6, they just have to get used to the different spaces and responsibilities.”

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Klopp continued: “That’s not the most difficult position in the world, it’s just one where from time to time you have to hold yourself back a little bit. Hendo struggled with that until the end and played some sensational games on the 6. [He would say] ‘But I cannot be involved in this or that going forward?’ That was the situation.

“But besides that [Gravenberch] is a real talent. So now we have to see. We obviously have good players and we don’t need to push him in because he is new, it’s a mid and long-term project and he will be with us definitely and will have enough opportunities to play.”

Gravenberch struggled to make an impression during his stint in the Bundesliga, with Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka blocking his path to the starting line-up. The 21-year-old played 32 times across all competitions, yet just five of those came from the starting line-up.

Klopp said of his lack of game-time at Bayern: “That’s a normal situation in a career, I know only one player who is always high and that is Lionel Messi. And even he probably doesn’t always have highs and all the rest is part of football. It’s not a problem.

“There are no massive lows as he was playing Bayern Munich, by the way, and that would have happened to a lot of players, he played some games. Bayern is a pretty good team and they have a lot of players so that can absolutely happen, so it is not a ‘low’ [what happened at Bayern], it’s a normal step in a career.”