Jurgen Klopp lauds 'obvious talent' Ryan Gravenberch
Jurgen Klopp praised Ryan Gravenberch, after the young midfielder received a standing ovation for his display in Liverpool's Europa League win on Thursday.
21-year-old Gravenberch got his first Liverpool goal in the 2-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise, opening the scoring after the ball was spilled into his path by goalkeeper Anthony Moris for the simplest of tap-ins shortly before half-time.
Gravenberch has registered a goal contribution in each of his three Liverpool starts so far, and even earned a round of applause from the Anfield crowd as he was substituted with little over ten minutes still to play of the European tie.
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Speaking after the match, Klopp hailed the £34m signing.
"It’s really obvious how much of a talent he is. He is enjoying the situation and getting there step by step," Klopp said in his post-match press conference.
"It’s really good to see. He fits well with the age group of the majority of the squad. Very good, it is going in the right direction. Very helpful."
Discussing why, Gravenberch was taken off for Dominik Szoboszlai before the end of the game, the manager revealed it was purely a precautionary decision, with the midfielder still getting up to speed in terms of fitness.
Klopp added: "We wanted to give him 90 but then we saw he dropped a little bit and didn’t want to build any risk, so that’s why we brought on Dom for a few minutes."
Meanwhile, speaking after the win, Gravenberch admitted he is gaining confidence after a difficult year at Bayern Munich where he struggled for game time.
Asked about what has changed since his move to Anfield, he replied: "I think the minutes, just the minutes. When you give a player minutes, you get confidence and I think that's it.
"They are [a] really nice, really good group, also [with] young players. I'm just enjoying it."