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Arne Slot likens Ryan Gravenberch to 4 soccer legends as Liverpool ace's 'extra motivation' clear

Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch with UEFA's Player of the Match award.
-Credit: (Image: Photo by Justin Setterfield - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)


Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has sung the praises of Ryan Gravenberch after a sensational start to the season in a deeper-lying midfield position. The 21-year-old was excellent again as the Reds beat AC Milan in the Champions League.

"He took the occasion of playing at a stadium where a lot of Dutch players played unbelievably well (in the past)," Slot said while live on Amazon Prime post-match. "Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and afterward someone else (Clarence Seedorf, stood near him) came over here to do the same things as the other three. Ryan played outstanding today but he wasn’t the only one.

"[The midfield] is a combination of energy and quality on the ball. I think the most successful team of Liverpool in recent years had three ‘animals’ or ‘dogs’ or however you want to call it, very hard-working players in the midfield.

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"These three work very hard in midfield as well and they don’t fight with the ball so it means they are quite comfortable on it. That’s what you like to see as we like to press high, be really aggressive in what we try to do, but we also like to play out from the back and create our chances like this. That’s what they did today."

Alongside Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have also had strong starts to the new campaign for Liverpool in general. While Curtis Jones has been sidelined with a minor injury and Harvey Elliott is set to be missing for a few weeks, the Reds have coped in four out of the five matches to date in large part because of Gravenberch's form.

MILAN, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 17: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT)  Ryan Gravenberch of Liverpool showing his appreciation to the fans at the end of the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD1 match between AC Milan and Liverpool FC at Stadio San Siro on September 17, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Ryan Gravenberch shows his appreciation to the travelling Liverpool fans after the 3-1 victory over AC Milan -Credit:John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

"I was standing just a second ago next to Clarence Seedorf," Slot then told reporters during his post-match press conference. "They also talked about Ryan and Cody [Gakpo] and I said it’s a special place for Dutch players to play, because of the former players who played here.

"And to put a performance in like this is always nice as a Liverpool player, and at a venue like this is even nicer. You can pick these two but I think I could pick a few others as well that played really well. Like always, it’s very difficult for an individual to play well if the whole team doesn’t play well, and vice versa. So the team played well and the individuals can shine from there."

Liverpool.com says: Gravenberch has been sublime at the start of the season and that has been a huge boost. Even though the sample size for him playing as a number six in Slot's midfield, he has done it at Old Trafford and the San Siro. That is enough to suggest that he can do it against most teams.