Chris
Ryan Gravenberch will want to make a much greater impact than Jurgen Klopp’s last deadline day signing, Arthur Melo, who made his one and only Liverpool appearance on this day in 2022
Liverpool completed an £150m midfield overhaul with the deadline day signing of Ryan Gravenberch last week.
Arriving from Bayern Munich in a deal worth up to £40m, the Netherlands international followed Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Wataru Endo through the door as Jurgen Klopp was forced to build a brand new midfield.
Reds bosses hadn’t necessarily planned to sign four new midfielders heading into the summer, even if a long-awaited revamp was very much on the agenda. While Mac Allister and Szoboszlai were snapped up before the start of pre-season, it was only when Liverpool were caught off guard by Saudi Arabia interest in Jordan Henderson and Fabinho that it became clear they would need to strengthen further.
The Reds obviously tried and failed to sign both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, before turning to the curve-ball signing of Endo from VfB Stuttgart. While his £16.2m transfer fee, or indeed Liverpool’s overall spend, paled in comparison to the £173m Chelsea ended up spending on the aforementioned pair, instead signing a 30-year-old with no ‘elite’ experience was still very much a step away from the club’s preferred methods and a move the jury is still out on.
At least in Gravenberch, despite its deadline day timing, the Reds were landing a long-standing target. Liverpool had been monitoring the 21-year-old for a number of years, and were interested in signing him last summer when he instead traded Ajax for Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, they have held talks with the Dutchman’s representatives on more than one occasion throughout 2023, before the Bavarians belatedly granted his request to leave.
Compared to the Reds’ last deadline day, coming exactly a year to the day earlier, despite similarities in the deals, the club’s approaches were chalk and cheese.
