Bolo Zenden sets key challenge for Ryan Gravenberch after snub

Former Liverpool midfielder Bolo Zenden has told Ryan Gravenberch what he must do in order to return to the Netherlands setup.

Ryan Gravenberch certainly needs to get his international career back on track. The 21-year-old does have 11 caps already but now finds himself on the fringes after his difficult spell at Bayern Munich.

It wasn't exactly a shock, then, that Ronald Koeman didn't include the midfielder in his latest Dutch squad. It's a situation that Gravenberch will want to fix quickly. Though, it might not be that easy.

The youngster recently upset those at his national team by rejecting a call-up to the Dutch Under-21s squad. Boss Michael Reiziger called it 'the wrong choice', while Koeman reportedly wasn't exactly pleased, either.

Former Liverpool and Netherlands midfielder, Bolo Zenden feels the best solution is to stop focusing on it, though. He believes Gravenberch just needs to click with the Reds and the national side will naturally come calling.

"I think it's important to play regular football if you want to showcase yourself for the national team," he told AltIndex.com. "Gravenberch is coming from his Bayern situation, and if he can become important to Liverpool, I'm sure the door will open for him in the national team.

"As a player, you're faced with the fact that you play in a well-stocked position. The Netherlands hardly have any strikers, and they're more likely to get a call-up if they play well.

"We have players [in midfield] like Joey Veerman and Tijjani Reijnders, Frankie De Jong, and others. We can go on and on! We have quite the selection of midfielders, and I think Ryan should focus on playing well at Liverpool and the national team will come calling."

It's essentially all Gravenberch can really do at this stage. Rejecting the U21 call-up has put him in a negative position and he'll likely need to shine quite brightly in order to get a senior place.

But there have been glimpses of that at Liverpool already. Once Gravenberch finds consistency, there's little doubt that Koeman and co. will put this behind them to get the midfielder back in their team. He's just got too much talent to remain on the sidelines for long.