While Jurgen Klopp’s departure meant it was a summer of transition for Liverpool last year, new boss Arne Slot did not oversee a busy transfer window.
Italian forward Federico Chiesa was the only new face to arrive in the summer, while Liverpool also did a deal for Giorgi Mamardashvili that will see the Valencia goalkeeper arrive this summer after remaining at the Mestalla on loan.
This was despite plenty of speculation that Slot was after a new no.6 to bolster his midfield options, as the likes of Spain’s Euro 2024 winner Martin Zubimendi were linked. No deal materialised there, but with Liverpool sitting at the top of the Premier League, into the Carabao Cup final and through to the Champions League last-16, it is clear Slot has been able to more than make do with his current midfield options.
How Arne Slot has transformed Ryan Gravenberch at Liverpool
This is largely down to the form of Ryan Gravenberch, who has started each and every Premier League game for Liverpool so far this season and is now delivering on the promise that earned him a £34million move to Anfield from Bayern Munich in 2023, with the 22-year-old ranked at No.9 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best defensive midfielders in the world in December.
Former Liverpool head of research Ian Graham left the club shortly before Gravenberch moved to the club, but had previously monitored the Netherlands international, and he has been impressed how Slot has been able to convert him into a top-class No.6.
“In Gravenberch’s first season at Ajax, he instantly popped into our ratings as one of the best under-21 midfielders in Europe,” he told FourFourTwo. “He looked like a future superstar – it was a surprise to me that he didn’t really get a chance when he moved to Bayern Munich, and I don’t think he looked brilliant when he did play there.
“That’s where interpretation is so important, though. What position was he playing? What formation were Bayern playing? Was it similar to Ajax? Was he being allowed to do the things he was good at?
“The impressive thing is Arne Slot has made him into more of a no.6 – he was more of a box-to-box midfielder at Ajax.”
Gravenberch arrived in the same transfer window that saw the club sign Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, as the club rebuilt a midfield that had recently seen the likes of Sadio Mané, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson move on, with Mac Allister another player who has excelled in an unfamiliar position.
“Alexis Mac Allister was a no.10 in Argentina, he still wears that number, but he struggled in that role for Brighton when he initially came to the Premier League,” he continues. “I remember thinking, ‘Why have Brighton signed him? He’s struggling as a 10’. It was when he took a step back into midfield that things changed.”
Gravenberch is now valued at €55million by Transfermarkt and at just 22 years of age, is a long-term solution for Liverpool in that position. This could be vital ahead of the summer transfer window, as it means the no.6 position is boxed off at a time when the club is battling to keep hold of influential trio Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who are all in the final weeks of their current contracts.
