Raphael van der Vaart believes that Liverpool manager, Arne Slot has unlocked the full potential of Ryan Gravenberch following the Reds midfielder’s amazing performance against Germany on Tuesday night.
Ronald Koeman’s team drew 2-2 with Germany in Amsterdam with goals from Tijjani Reijnders and Denzel Dumfries for the Dutch. Deniz Undav and Joshua Kimmich were on the score-sheet for Germany.
While Gravenberch was the focal point of the Dutch midfield, Van der Vaart believes the 22-year-old has significantly improved in Slot’s brief tenure at Anfield.
“I think we have a great midfielder,” Van der Vaart told NOS as echoed by The Metro.
“Arne Slot has brought him back to his full potential at Liverpool, and his potential is now fully revealed.
“Today I thought he was the very, very, very best, certainly in the first hour.”
The pinnacle of Gravenberch’s performance came in the 21st minute when he made a wonderful long-range ball from within his own half to put Xavi Simons through on goal.
“He plays football so easily and passes balls. And then that one pass,” Van der Vaart said.
“Those are the most difficult balls to pass in football. He did it fantastically.”
When asked about that pass to Simons after the game, Gravenberch said: “That one pass felt perfect. I saw Xavi go, then I thought: if it goes well, it goes well. If it goes wrong, then wrong.
“You can enjoy that on the pitch. It’s super nice, even when you give a pass like that. And then you hear the crowd. This one felt really perfect.”
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