Ajax’s Ryan Gravenberch is now a fixture in the transfer gossip columns and, over the past year,
the 19 year-old midfielder has been connected with moves to Manchester United,
Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
In fact, it’s easier to name the clubs that don’t carry an interest in Gravenberch.
But why does everybody want him?
What makes him special?
Gravenberch has been at Ajax since he was eight years old
and that’s not a bad starting point. Now 19 and just over 6ft2, he’s a handy combination
of everything you’d expect from a player raised in Amsterdam – spatially aware, assured on the ball,
skilful – as well as possessing a perfect frame for a modern midfielder.
Gravenberch is soft footed and long legged, meaning that he possesses the
first touch to receive the ball under pressure and beat opponents with ease,
but then also the capacity accelerate away from them.
It’s a cliché but it’s true: he can make football look very easy. He can pass off both feet,
although his right is stronger, and he can shoot with either finesse or great violence.
So, combine those physical and technical attributes,
factor in the endorsement of an Ajax education, and it’s very easy to get lost in the hyperbole.
And that’s the short answer as to why so many clubs are chasing him: it’s because it’s so easy
to see him evolving into a world class player. The fact that he carries the ball with such flair and
elegance doesn’t hurt, either, nor does the fact that he carries the ball like a young Paul Pogba.
A more measured perspective, though, might reflect that Gravenberch is the perfect player
at the right time. He’s a skilled generalist who probably requires defensive support,
but who could nevertheless be attuned or adapted around the abilities
of all sorts of other midfielders. It is, for instance, just as easy to see him making a
home alongside Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho at Liverpool, as it would be to imagine him
excelling alongside the range of options at the Bernabeu, the Allianz Arena or Old Trafford.
Importantly, with a trend for elite clubs facing deep-lying defences, particularly domestically,
Gravenberch possesses the kind of abilities which can provide a great deal of thrust.
According to FBref.com, he averages 3.61 carries into the final third per game, placing him in
the 99th percentile among all other central midfielders, and he’s already one of the most
progressive carriers in his position in Europe, averaging 7.59 per game, good enough for the 96th
percentile and a profile pitched somewhere between Marco Verratti and Nicolo Barrella.
As you’d except from an Ajax academy product, he’s already
excellent at identifying space in attacking areas – he’s in the 94th percentile for progressive
passes received – and he’s as liable to beat a defender with the ball at his feet
as he is to take them out of the game with a cutting through-ball.
His role in the Ajax team reflects his strengths and weaknesses. 2021-22 is his second full season
as a first-team regular and while it has been partially disrupted by a bout of coronavirus,
Gravenberch has typically played at the base of Erik ten Hag’s 4-2-3-1,
alongside Edson Alvarez in deep midfield.
Alvarez is more of a defensive specialist and provides the stability from which his more
gifted midfield partner can express himself. Moreover, that’s a protection that Gravenberch
needs. He may yet develop astute defensive timing to go with his array of other abilities,
but he’s by no means a screening player. Nor is he a particular reliable presser.
That isn’t to say that he can’t become one, just that he isn’t one at the moment. And at 19,
there’s plenty of time for that to change. In addition to which,
Ajax are a superb defensive side anyway, and one that has also averaged nearly 70%
possession in their Eredivisie games during the current season; this side of Gravenberch’s
game may evolve as and when he moves to a different league and it becomes more necessary.
Ajax’s attacking roles ahead of Gravenberch are occupied by Dusan Tadic,
Steven Berghuis and Antony, all of whom have a greater creative responsibility than he does.
Gravenberch is, in essence, the connecting piece between the attacking and defending
parts of a side – a press-resistant player who can collect the ball from
his centre-halves, who can carry or pass the ball forwards, and who can also give a steady,
sometimes spectacular attacking contribution in the offensive third.
Quite naturally, players who promise to play that role to a high standard have extraordinary value
and, in theory at least, Gravenberch is the most obviously talented complete midfielder
of his generation. Intensifying the demand is also his contract situation. His current Ajax
deal will expire in 2023, meaning that he’s approaching its final year. So, either a sale
happens this summer, or he’ll be available on a free transfer in twelve months’ time.
Whenever his move happens, it promises to be an almighty battle between the game’s
dominant powers. And, like so many straight arrow prospects of the last decade, he’s represented by
Mino Raiola, who has proven very adept at mapping out a smooth root to football’s stratosphere.