18 months after the $61 million arrival of the Colombian, Jürgen Klopp reiterates his Luis Dáz strategy in a message to the team’s training grounds.
At Ajax, his last team where he started regularly, Ryan Gravenberch tended to play in a midfield two or three, but at Liverpool, he’s essentially playing in a four.
When the Reds have the ball, Jürgen Klopp effectively deploys two defensive midfielders behind two advanced number eights because the full-back frequently moves inside.
The $44 million (£37 million/€40 million) summer signing from Bayern Munich was questioned about the differences between his new position and the roles he’s carried out under previous managers after making his full debut against LASK in the Europa League on Thursday night.
“Actually, no,” he countered. “Yesterday after training [Klopp] came to me and said to me [to] feel free, you know, you can do whatever you want, of course you have to do your things, but he just said feel free and show yourself and the Ryan you are.”
This guidance was sound because Gravenberch put in a strong effort on his first start, assisting Luis Daz on a goal in the second half, and drawing more fouls (4 total) than any of his teammates with his deft dribbling.
The good news for Klopp is that he can and will improve. He didn’t complete 30% of his passes and made some dubious decisions with the ball, but that can largely be attributed to a lack of match sharpness given that he had only played 10 minutes of Bundesliga before making the switch and had only entered the game against Wolves in stoppage time last weekend.
Beyond that, Gravenberch will undoubtedly look better as Klopp gradually explains the specifics of his role both on and off the ball. For the time being, he’s mostly letting him be himself on the field, even though he still needs to press the ball because Liverpool cannot afford any passengers.
The main objective here is probably to rebuild the player’s self-esteem following what would have been a disastrous stint at Bayern, where he only played 586 minutes of league time in just over two seasons. He now has the freedom to take chances thanks to Klopp, almost rediscovering his identity as a football player.
There are parallels between this and his method of coaching Dáz in the early stages of the Colombian’s Anfield career after his $61 million (£50 million/€58 million) transfer from Porto in January 2022.
“I thought ‘OK, why shouldn’t we try it then?’, just without five million informations, just let him play,” Klopp said after the winger starred on his debut against Leicester (via This is Anfield). “He watched us, obviously, and we showed him a lot of situations, but it looks natural in a lot of moments.”
With Daz arguably Liverpool’s stand-out attacker in his first half-season and flourishing with the freedom he had been given as Klopp only gradually instilled his philosophy, this plan delivered immediate rewards.
The long-term benefit ought to be obvious as well in what he hopes will be his first full season with the team (Daz missed most of the previous season from October until April due to injury). In his first five starts this season, he has already scored three goals.
But crucially, he too is seen as a natural fit. It remains to be seen whether Gravenberch is heavily involved in the upcoming weeks and months, like Daz was. That does indeed explain why Klopp and the Reds have long coveted him (via The Athletic), dating all the way back to his days in the Ajax youth system.