Ryan Gravenberch is rightly earning rave reviews from the wider footballing community, though TEAMtalk can shed light on the parts Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea played in Liverpool striking gold.
Gravenberch, 23, joined Liverpool in the summer of 2023 in a deal worth £34.2m. According to former striker, Michael Owen, Gravenberch is now worth £100m-plus.
The Dutchman produced yet another marvellous display in the Merseyside derby on Saturday and, despite lining up as the holding midfielder, he both scored and assisted.
Gravenberch’s rise at Liverpool is a remarkable one, not least because he barely kicked a ball in his first season at the club.
Jurgen Klopp was Liverpool’s manager at the time and viewed Gravenberch as more of a box-to-box option in his midfield three.
The change of manager to Arne Slot opened the door for Gravenberch to take centre stage at the base of midfield. However, the situation and Gravenberch’s meteoric rise could have been oh so different but for the influence of Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal all involved in Gravenberch rise
Rewind the clock all the way back to the January window of 2023 and Man Utd, at the behest of Erik ten Hag, made a play for Gravenberch.
The midfielder was struggling to break into the team at Bayern Munich at that time. Man Utd had just suffered an injury blow after Christian Eriksen was sidelined and a late-window move for a new midfielder was sanctioned.
Both Sky Sports and The Independent confirmed Man Utd and Ten Hag wanted Gravenberch as their priority signing. Ten Hag knew Gravenberch well from their time together at Ajax.
However, Bayern were reluctant to sanction a loan exit for a player who’d only arrived six months prior.
Accordingly, Man Utd were forced to look at alternatives and would go on to sign Marcel Sabitzer – also from Bayern Munich – on a six-month loan.
To this day, Man Utd are still crying out for a world-class central midfielder and, if reigniting their plans to sign Carlos Baleba in 2026, a club-record deal worth well in excess of £100m may be required.
Once the 2022/23 campaign ended, Liverpool embarked on a complete midfield rebuild. Stalwarts like Jordan Henderson and Fabinho were sold, while James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were released.
Liverpool got deals for Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai over the line in the early phase of the window. The fact both stars could be signed via release clauses sped up the process.
However, Liverpool then fixed their gaze on more defensive-minded options in Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia. Hefty bids for both players were tabled, with Liverpool offering a club-record (at the time) £111m for Caicedo.
Ultimately, both players chose to sign for Chelsea, resulting in Liverpool making late-window moves for Wataru Endo and Gravenberch.
As mentioned, Gravenberch struggled to impress Klopp in the 2023/24 season and, at one point, was an unused substitute in four consecutive matches in April of 2024.
Klopp’s departure a few months later prompted the arrival of Slot and the incoming coach immediately sought to sign a ball-playing defensive midfielder.
Martin Zubimendi was identified as the perfect player to pull the strings in a Slot midfield. Liverpool pushed for the Spaniard and indicated to Real Sociedad they were prepared to pay the player’s release clause.
However, Zubimendi chose to remain in situ and less than six months later, news broke of Arsenal securing a broad agreement to sign Zubimendi in the summer of 2025. It doesn’t take a genius to work out Zubimendi rejected Liverpool in the knowledge he was heading to Arsenal one year later.
Had Zubimendi joined Liverpool, Gravenberch may again have been denied opportunities to shine. But with Endo not viewed as a regular starter by Slot, the responsibility for anchoring Liverpool’s midfield fell to Gravenberch almost by default.
Liverpool now possess one of the world’s leading stars in that position, though but for Man Utd’s miss, Chelsea’s double swoop and Arsenal turning Zubimendi’s head, the situation could’ve been so very different.
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