Why is Gravenberch not in the Netherlands nomination? I have an opinion on him after he turned down the U21s last time, says coach Koeman

Ryan Gravenberch is one of the greatest Dutch talents. Normally, the 21-year-old Liverpool player would not be missing from the Oranjes squad, but coach Ronald Koeman seems to have some personal problem with him.

Since 2019, Gravenberch has featured regularly for Ajax Amsterdam’s Ajax youth team. In the last two seasons, he played so well that Bayern Munich bought him and very cheaply, for just €18.5 million.

However, he didn’t do well in Bavaria, he couldn’t make it into the starting line-up and his only two points (1+1) came in the DFB Pokal, otherwise he didn’t make it into the stats.

In the summer, Liverpool bought him for 40 million euros. In the last few games, he started to show what talent lies dormant in the 21-year-old and why Jürgen Klopp brought him in.

He was already fairly established in the Netherlands national team, starting six games at the World Cup in Qatar, but in the spring he helped the U21 national team, with whom he went to the EURO.

Due to a virtually zero workload at the start of the season at Bayern, Oranjes coach Ronald Koeman did not nominate him for the national team, which was understandable.

I have my opinion

But now that he has regained his form and has racked up a 1+2 record in six games, he was expected to return to the nomination. Only Koeman has left him out again.

“Why is Gravenberch missing? I have my opinion on him after he turned down the U21 national team last time,” Koeman told a press conference that Gravenberch should have gone with the U21s when he was not nominated for the senior national team, which he apparently refused.

“He hasn’t played much for Liverpool, ” the former Barcelona coach added. But that statement is not entirely true.

Gravenberch made his debut against Wolves for a minute, then played 73 minutes in the Europa League against Lasek and registered an assist, then he came on for 14 minutes against West Ham, in the EFL Cup against Leicester he managed 64 minutes and scored a goal, against Tottenham he played 11 minutes, in the Europa League against the Royal Union he managed 78 minutes and scored a goal, and at the weekend against Brighton he played half a minute.

Source: X, The European Lad