Liverpool have pulled out of the race to sign Bayern Munich midfielder Ryan Gravenberch this summer.
Gravenberch had seemingly been high on the Reds’ wish list this summer, with rumours of interest starting up long before the season ended. However, given Bayern’s insistence that the Dutchman isn’t for sale, a transfer always looked tricky.
Now, according to journalist Florian Plettenberg, that stance may actually have started to soften. But writing on Twitter yesterday, Plettenberg also reported that Liverpool are no longer interested in Gravenberch.
Instead, it seems as though the Reds are set to go full steam ahead to sign Southampton’s Romeo Lavia.
“News Gravenberch: Liverpool is definitely OUT of the race!” wrote the journalist. “But talks between the club and the players management took place.
Instead, Romeo Lavia one of the priorities for LFC! Important to say: Gravenberch is not unsaleable for Bayern
It would have been interesting to see what had happened if Bayern had agreed to put Gravenberch up for sale earlier in the summer.
With Liverpool seemingly speaking with his agents plenty of times, it’s feasible that they’d have made a move.
Jurgen Klopp has always wanted to get new signings done early in the summer. Had the 21-year-old been available back in May or June, perhaps he’d be a Liverpool player by now.
Ryan Gravenberch
Photo by Giorgi Ebanoidze/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
In the end, it may end up being a good thing that he wasn’t. Gravenberch is a fine player and surely has an excellent career ahead of him. But as his displays for the Netherlands at the U21 Euros showed, he isn’t in the best place right now.
Klopp and Liverpool could maybe have brought that out of him, that’s true. But for the reported £43m fee, the Reds would want someone to come in and make an impact straight away. So far, the signings of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai look like fitting that remit. Gravenberch possibly couldn’t.
It’s debatable whether Lavia could too, but with a full season of Premier League football already under his belt, there’d be less bedding in to do.
Liverpool are finally whittling down their options as they look to close up their midfield rebuild. Two through the door already with another on the way. The identity of that third addition is still to be finalised. But what we can now be sure of is that it won’t be Gravenberch.
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