It was an incredibly impressive season for Liverpool in terms of blooding young players.
The Reds made full use of their academy in Jurgen Klopp’s final campaign as they navigated injury problems galore.
One area that Liverpool look well-stocked in for the future is in the midfield. Bobby Clark has the look of a first-team player already, while James McConnell burst through with impressive nonchalance.
Trey Nyoni is another who has a big future, while it can’t be forgotten that Harvey Elliott is only 21 himself.
And on top of all of that, Liverpool have now been told that they have another midfielder who has ‘unbelievable potential.’
Rafael van der Vaart raves about Ryan Gravenberch
For Elliott, the reason you forget just how young he is is that he’s already played over 100 times for Liverpool.
In total, the former Fulham prospect has registered 164 games in his senior career so far.
One year older than Elliott, Ryan Gravenberch has played even more. The Dutchman has 187 appearances under his belt so far.
38 of those came for Liverpool in what was a slightly underwhelming debut season for Gravenberch at Anfield.
READ MORE: Dutch press react to Ryan Gravenberch’s first start for the Netherlands since 2021
But according to former Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, the 22-year-old still has such a lot to offer now and in the future.
“In the games that Gravenberch has played, you can see that he is a midfielder of our time,” Van der Vaart told Voetbalzone.
“I think he’s so good, unbelievable potential, but we’ve [the Netherlands] had a lot of players from that and you don’t hear about that anymore. I hope it comes out.”
Ryan Gravenberch ready to make his mark at Liverpool
This is not the first time Van der Vaart has leapt to the defence of Liverpool’s No.38. The pundit recently stood by his claim that Gravenberch is better than Jude Bellingham.
While we’re not sure about that for the time being, the Dutchman certainly has the potential to be a lot better than we’ve seen.
With Arne Slot coming in, the hope remains that some of that potential can start to be realised.
Gravenberch has claimed that he’s excited about Slot’s arrival and hopefully his compatriot can get a better tune out of the former Bayern man.
Patience will be required, though. Gravenberch is only just 22 after all and has been at three different clubs in just over two years.
Hopefully now settled at Liverpool, we should see better from Ryan next season. If he unlocks the tools Van der Vaart claims he has, Gravenberch could be a real difference maker.