How older boys and Ryan Babel helped 'snake' Gravenberch become a Liverpool star

Ryan Gravenberch is now delivering on the immense potential his former coaches and teammates always knew was there.

Photo: IMAGO | Anfield Index

Few Liverpool fans are perhaps aware that Anfield cult hero Ryan Babel is partly to thank for Ryan Gravenberch’s arrival at the club last summer.

Between Babel’s brief return to Ajax on loan in 2020 and international appearances for the Netherlands, the pair shared a pitch as teammates just eight times in total.

Yet they struck up a friendship during that time that sustained beyond both men leaving the Amsterdam club that forged them. 

Consequently, when it emerged that Gravenberch was once again being targeted by Liverpool just 12 months on from spurning them for Bayern Munich, Babel was able to spring into action.