It wasn’t the most special of finishes from Ryan Gravenberch to put Liverpool ahead in their Europa League encounter, though few can deny that the Dutchman has enjoyed a strong start to life at Anfield.
Steve McManaman praised the ‘quite impressive’ midfielder for his contributions in a praiseworthy first-half showing at L4 against Union Saint-Gilloise.
“It has been a low-key goal. It had to be a goalkeeping error to calm the nerves of everyone in the ground,” the TNT sports pundit said (as relayed by BBC Sport).
“They break quick and Union Saint-Gilloise get people back, but this is nothing more than a goalkeeping error.
“He has been quite impressive this evening, Gravenberch, and he earned that little bit of luck.”
Two assists and a goal in his first six games for Jurgen Klopp’s men at the half-time mark (209 minutes) means the 21-year-old is registering a goal or assist every 69.66 minutes.
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Make no mistake, this is a player (signed for a reported £34.2m, according to Sky Sports) with kinks in his game to iron out and much in the way of developmental potential to realise.
We’d be remiss not to point out the startling difference in performance levels between his brief stint at the Allianz Arena compared to his first handful of outings with Liverpool.
Gravenberch was a force to be reckoned with in the first-half of action at L4 and has hardly put a foot wrong when granted minutes, so far mostly coming in the cups and Europe.
Could it yet be time to trust him with game time in the Premier League amid Curtis Jones’ three-game match ban?
#Ep93 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Steve Kay🎙️