Jurgen Klopp shares Ryan Gravenberch plan and makes admission over Fabinho transfer replacement
Klopp believes Gravenberch can become the long-term successor to Fabinho as Liverpool's specialist defensive midfielder
Jurgen Klopp has detailed Ryan Gravenberch's potential to become the long-term successor to Fabinho and dismissed the new Liverpool midfielder's difficult year at Bayern Munich as "a normal step" in his development.
Netherlands international Gravenberch joined on transfer deadline day for a fee that could rise to £40m after just one season in Munich where he only made a handful of starts throughout his 34 appearances and had been limited to just nine minutes this term.
Klopp believes the tough campaign experienced is typical for a young player moving to such a big club at the age of 20 and the Reds boss thinks the versatile midfielder can be the ultimate replacement for Fabinho in the 'No.6' position at Anfield after the Brazilian moved to Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad in July.
"I didn't mention [the position], [Bayern Munich boss] Thomas Tuchel said that!" Klopp said on where Gravenberch is best suited. "I think definitely in the future he has the potential to play as a No.6. The only thing about Alexis Mac Allister - he can play the position - is, is he a classical 6 how you would draw it? Probably not. But the position in football has changed over the years.
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp faces Liverpool selection dilemma as £150m midfield truth becomes clear
"He's so skilled, I don't like to talk about the things he is not good at yet. They all have skills and yes they have to improve and he knows that, and he tries but the natural stuff is there and all the other stuff takes time and that is how it is. He is an 8, he can play as a 10, definitely and yes, in time, he can play as a 6. Like Curtis [Jones] could play as a 6, they just have to get used to the different spaces and responsibilities.
"That's not the most difficult position in the world, it's just one where from time to time you have to hold yourself back a little bit. Hendo struggled with that until the end and played some sensational games on the 6. [He would say] 'But I cannot be involved in this or that going forward?' That was the situation.
"But besides that [Gravenberch] is a real talent. So now we have to see. We obviously have good players and we don't need to push him in because he is new, it's a mid and long-term project and he will be with us definitely and will have enough opportunities to play."
On Gravenberch's season-long stay in Germany, Klopp added: "That's a normal situation in a career, I know only one player who is always high and that is Lionel Messi. And even he probably doesn't always have highs and all the rest is part of football. It's not a problem.
"There are no massive lows as he was playing Bayern Munich, by the way, and that would have happened to a lot of players, he played some games. Bayern is a pretty good team and they have a lot of players so that can absolutely happen, so it is not a 'low' [what happened at Bayern], it's a normal step in a career."