It’s hard to overstate how good of a season Ryan Gravenberch had for [Liverpool](https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/). The Dutch midfielder went from a young bit part player for [Bayern Munich](https://www.bavarianfootballworks.com) and Liverpool to a lynchpin who featured 37 times in the Premier League as the Reds stormed their way to the title. Gravenberch’s strong play with the Reds earned him the Premier League Young Player of the Season award, and has cemented a recall and starting role with the Netherlands as well. Gravenberch recently said that the success of this past season, but individually and from a club perspective, still hasn’t fully set in.
“The realisation about how much I have won so far isn’t quite there yet. Maybe it will come later. It all goes so fast. Of course, I know that winning the Premier League is one of the biggest prizes you can win. For the past four weeks, it has just been a big celebration. The celebrations and the bus ride were wonderful to experience.”
“It has been a super-great season and that makes me proud. The Premier League is the strongest league in the world. I showed myself to the world again and achieved my goals.”
The precursor to Gravenberch’s meteoric rise this season was Arne Slot’s plan to deploy the Dutchman in a holding midfield role. When asked about the change in his primary position, Gravenberch had some initial doubts about the defensive side of the position but he was excited to give it a go.
“When the coach told me about where he wanted me to play, I just thought, ‘When can I start?’ I knew I could do it, even though defensively I sometimes had my doubts. I do think I took a big step forward because it actually went naturally.”
“From the first training session it went pretty well. As the season went on, opponents started to put a different pressure on us and closed us down through the middle. But that created space somewhere else. It was up to us to find the free players.”
While Gravenberch wowed with his silky smooth turns to beat the press before gliding forward with the ball, his consistency and availability were if anything more impressive. While failing to break 2,000 minutes the previous two seasons, the midfield maestro was on the pitch for a over a whopping 4,000 minutes for the Reds this season. When asked about how he handled the workload, Gravenberch stated it primarily came down to his recovery program.
“How did I do that physically? Good question. It’s a matter of recovering well, where the people at Liverpool also deserve a big compliment. Football has become a running sport – running, running, running.”
“The intensity is of course higher than before, especially in the Premier League. I have that by nature. I can run. But at Ajax, the emphasis in training was more on technique and positional play. In England, you have to run a lot more.”