Ian Wright names Liverpool star who has ‘surprised’ Arne Slot this season | Football

Upon arriving at Anfield to replace Jurgen Klopp, Slot earmarked defensive midfield as a key position to upgrade over the summer.

The club aggressively pursued a deal for Real Sociedad star Martin Zubimendi and were willing to activate the player’s €60million (£51.3m) release clause before being told that the Spaniard wanted to remain at his boyhood club.

Rather than pursue alternatives, Liverpool instead chose to work with their current crop of players and deployed Gravenberch as the deepest player in Slot’s midfield three.

The Dutch 23-year-old had predominantly played in a more advanced role at Ajax and Bayern Munich but has excelled in the deeper position so far this Premier League season.

And after another impressive display in Liverpool’s comfortable 3-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford last weekend, Wright believes that Slot will be over the moon with Gravenberch’s adaptability to thrive in the new role.

‘His defensive work in that particular game was something they would have looked at and thought “wow” because he is not a natural No.6, he’s more of a No.8 who wants to get forward into the box and scores goals,’ the former Arsenal striker said on the Kelly and Wrighty show.

‘But they must have been pleasantly surprised or they’ve seen in training how good he is doing that defensive role if he gets himself in that position.

‘We know Liverpool, they go for their man and if they don’t get their man like Zubimendi, they don’t then just go for the next one.

‘They are happy to wait and see and they’ve obviously tried Ryan in there and, at the moment three games in, it looks very solid.’

Former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves, however, believes that Gravenberch should be a stopgap solution and urged Liverpool to get a natural defensive midfielder if they want to contend for trophies.

‘To win the Champions League and Premier League you need a Rodri-type player or someone top-level,’ he said.

‘I played that position and you don’t win with a playmaker there. It still has to be a defensive midfielder player in the transition; when you need to break things up; when you need to foul.’

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