Ryan Gravenberch has been informed that he is no longer being ‘punished’ for failing to get called up by the Netherlands for the upcoming round of international matches.
The Liverpool midfielder, who joined from Bayern Munich on transfer deadline day, declined to join the Dutch under-21 squad in September in order to focus on settling in on Merseyside.
Gravenberch’s action irritated senior manager Ronald Koeman, who attacked the decision until admitting last month that the situation had been resolved. Nigel de Jong, technical director of the KNVB, recently visited the Reds’ AXA Training Complex.
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The midfielder was left out of both the senior and under-21 teams during the October internationals and again for the upcoming round of games, but Netherlands under-21 boss Michael Reiziger has stated that Gravenberch’s latest omission was not a punishment, but rather a result of his unwillingness to make many changes to his set-up.
“I thought it was important to hold on to this group as much as possible,” he told Voetl International. “Because you’ve been together for three brief periods in a row.
“The playing style also becomes more apparent. So you don’t want to make too many changes. This isn’t a punishment or anything. Absolutely not. That is already in the past.
“During the next international match in March, you will, of course, look further. Then you don’t even know whether he is still eligible for the Dutch Juniors or the Dutch national team.
“Because he plays very good games at Liverpool. That’s just a very good thing. But again, we now have three periods in quick succession and this group has done well.
“That’s really the reason not to take Ryan along now. As KNVB, we are in contact with him; that was also explained to him; Nigel de Jong did that. He responded well to that.”
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