Arne Slot hints at why Liverpool have backed away from Arsenal target Martin Zubimendi
Liverpool missed out on signing Martin Zubimendi last summer and Arne Slot has spoken about the failed move, with Arsenal are now eyeing the Real Sociedad midfielder
Arne Slot has hailed Ryan Gravenberch, suggesting the Dutchman's impressive performances has cause Liverpool to drop their interest in Martin Zubimendi.
Liverpool attempted to make Zubimendi their first new signing under Slot over the summer and were prepared to pay his £51million release clause, but the midfielder ultimately decided to stay at his boyhood club Real Sociedad.
The Reds ended up not signing another midfielder and Gravenberch has been used in an unfamiliar holding midfield role. And Slot has been hugely impressed by the way Gravenberch has taken to his new role, with Zubimendi now said to be close to agreeing to join Arsenal next summer.
"The [No.6 roles] are important to me, but they are especially important for our attackers," he told TNT Sports. "We feel we have attackers that are pretty special - the front three - and we've got five or six of them.
READ MORE: Transfer news LIVE: Liverpool have Salah issue, Man Utd flop to exit, Rashford deadline closes inREAD MORE: Premier League supercomputer reaches overwhelming verdict after Liverpool and Arsenal results"So the only thing we have to make sure is that these players come into promising positions having the ball a lot. Therefore you need two sixes who can bring the ball to them. With Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) and Ryan, we have two players who can bring the ball to the likes of Mo Salah, to Cody Gakpo, to Darwin Nunez, to Diogo Jota.
"And we have chosen to bring in two players who were maybe a bit more attacking-minded in the past. Macca played a lot of times as a No.10 for Brighton, Ryan played more as an attacking midfielder but he is comfortable on the ball.
"I even think the player we wanted to bring in (Zubimendi) - I think that’s pretty much out in the open now - he was also a player who was really comfortable. He’s still a player who could bring the ball from the last line to our forwards.
"This is a special quality Ryan has. The ability to turn away from his man. He is one of a few holding midfielders, pivots, whatever you call them in this country, who can create an overload by a dribble. Most of these players pass a lot but to create an overload by a dribble, you don't see that much.
"You don't see that much as a No.6. I think the strength of this team is that we defend as 11. He has two centre-backs behind him, too. Virgil van Dijk helps a lot with that too in the Dutch language to make it clear to him."
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