‘That’s Ryan’ – Gravenberch’s brother says LFC beast is silencing critics with ‘sporting revenge’

The Ryan Gravenberch redemption arc has been a glorious sight for Liverpool fans and Arne Slot in the first two months of the 2024/25 season.

After a miserable spell at Bayern Munich and an inconsistent first year at Anfield, the 22-year-old has settled into a new defensive midfield role under his new club boss. In fact, he’s more than ‘settled into’ it – he’s thriving in it consistently.

His older brother Danzell is also a professional footballer with Den Bosch in the Dutch second tier, and he spoke to Algemeen Dagblad about how the Liverpool star is now silencing his critics with his actions on the pitch, which the 30-year-old believes have debunked some previous myths about the midfielder.

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Ryan Gravenberch getting ‘sporting revenge’ on his critics

The elder Gravenberch said: “It feels like he got sporting revenge, just by letting his feet do the talking. That’s Ryan. In the past, Ryan had moments when he seemed to dream a little. That was probably because it was easy for him when he was young. He didn’t always have to do that much.

“He was sometimes absent for a while, but that has really changed. I don’t see those moments anymore. Ryan has become a guy who knows exactly what he can do.

“They used to talk about his nonchalant attitude, but if you look at the distances he’s covered, you’ll see that he’s really not that nonchalant… maybe it’s because of his smile.”

Gravenberch doing his talking on the pitch

Gravenberch wasn’t especially bad during his first season at Liverpool – he showed some early signs of real promise in the group stage of the Europa League – but a rollicking from Jurgen Klopp over his part in a goal for Arsenal against us in February summed up the general feeling that there was much room for improvement.

Slot evidently saw something in the 22-year-old to make him instigate the positional switch which has worked such a treat in recent weeks, providing the perfect ripose to the howls of anguish over the Reds not signing a new number 6 in the summer transfer window.

Danzell’s comments about his younger brother not being ‘nonchalant’ are evidenced in figures from WhoScored. Our number 38 has made the second-most interceptions (1.7) and third-most tackles (2.1) per game of anyone in the LFC squad this term, and only four players have a higher average for aerial duels won per match.

Instead of moaning publicly when things weren’t going well for him, the Liverpool midfielder has continued to apply himself in training and seized the opportunity presented to him by his coach with both hands. As his sibling says, he’s doing his talking on the pitch, and long may that continue!