Liverpool star Ryan Gravenberch has fallen out of favour with senior Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman after refusing an under-21 international call-up last month in order to focus on adjusting to life at his new club. Gravenberch has not featured for Holland since making his £36.5million move to Anfield in the summer from Bayern Munich.
And his exile will continue into November with Gravenberch not even making Koeman’s preliminary squad for upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Gibraltar. Koeman will expect an apology from the Reds midfielder before he returns to the fold but Dutch Football expert Mike Vermijl anticipates that Gravenberch will stick to his guns.
“I don’t think Gravenberch is there. That really surprises me,” he said on the Kick-Off podcast. “Ronald Koeman is really a people manager. Instead of 26, you can also simply put 27 on the provisional list. This would send a signal to Gravenberch: hey boy, keep it up!
“Maybe Koeman still blames him for that (the refusal to play for Jong Oranje). Perhaps Nigel de Jong (technical director of the KNVB) has not yet reached an agreement with Gravenberch about possible excuses.
“I just don’t think Gravenberch is going to apologise. A player should also be able to say that he prefers to acclimatise at his new club over the Dutch Juniors.” Gravenberch has hit the ground running since making the switch to Merseyside.
The Dutchman was the best player on the pitch during Liverpool’s 5-1 Europa League thrashing of Toulouse on Thursday night and caught the eye during the Reds’ last outing against Nottingham Forest. He was an afterthought in Klopp’s summer midfield revamp but has quickly established himself as one of the club’s most important players.
Singing his midfielder’s praises after the Toulouse game, Klopp said: “He’s a good player. I’m so happy for him that he’s started to really enjoy his football again,” Klopp told TNT Sports. “You can see his first touch is incredible. His acceleration with the ball. How strong he is in tight spaces.
“He’s not even halfway there from where he can be. But it’s really promising. The good thing is he has a lot of things to improve – so much space to improve and that’s good news. And because he is very young there is much more to come.”
