Liverpool has had to set about its midfield rebuild without Jude Bellingham. It became apparent last season that wholesale changes were needed, and the transfer focus ultimately had to be on assembling a brand new unit.
That meant a generational talent slipping away. And in other circumstances, Liverpool would still be reeling; Bellingham has certainly done nothing to help matters, somehow finding even more levels in his early months at Real Madrid.
But as Jürgen Klopp’s side racked up another win against Toulouse, confirming once again the impression that this stay in the Europa League will be a short one, thoughts were a long way from Bellingham. That’s because Liverpool will surely feel increasingly as though it has got the better deal.
First and foremost, Bellingham alone could not have brought Klopp the depth he has now. He rotated against the French side, and Wataru Endō rewarded him with a goal and an excellent performance. Meanwhile, Curtis Jones came back in and impressed too.
But it’s not only that. Despite missing out on Bellingham, it looks increasingly like Liverpool did not have to sacrifice that ‘starboy’ quality, with one player on a different level entirely against Toulouse.
Ryan Gravenberch has not found starts too easy to come by just yet, a mark of the holistic effectiveness of Klopp’s rebuild. But as he finds his feet, he looks more special with every passing week.
The club will be delighted with just how well he has done, especially after his progress had stalled for a year at Bayern Munich, but it will not be a massive surprise. After all, per Melissa Reddy, he had been marked as a potential ‘game-changer’ alongside Bellingham and Aurélien Tchouaméni in the summer of 2022.
Clearly, Gravenberch is not on par with Bellingham just yet. But you can absolutely see why Liverpool considered he had a similarly high ceiling — this is a player with very limited football over the past year, but he is starting to really dominate on the pitch.
Arguably man of the match in consecutive games now, having shone against Everton too, Gravenberch has the unerring quality of making football look easy. He is so graceful when he receives the ball, and can take opponents out of the game with the deftest of touches.
Once he gets facing the right way, he drives the side forward. He’s got goals at the end of it, too. In other words, he is the complete package, much like Bellingham.
It seems like Liverpool will ultimately have to empower his talents in the way that Real Madrid has done with Bellingham. When that happens, the pair could even be talked about in a similar bracket.
But even if that does not quite happen, this is a player Liverpool got for $41m (£34m/€39m). It’s some $98m less than Real Madrid forked out for Bellingham.
Picking up on an underappreciated asset, this is a true return to ‘Moneyball’ for Liverpool. It’s a transfer that already looks like it will pay massive dividends for years to come. The club has eventually got its ‘game-changer’ — and with Dominik Szoboszlai on board too, it might even have got two for less than the price of Bellingham.
