'Missed a trick': Jermaine Pennant suggests Jurgen Klopp made a mistake with £34m player who is now shining

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Liverpool couldn’t have wished for a better start to life under Arne Slot this season.

The Reds have won 14 out of their first 16 games across all competitions and sit top of both the Premier League and Champions League tables.

Slot deserves enormous credit for that, with the Liverpool head coach immediately marking himself out as a really talented leader.

Ask Slot, however, and he would likely point to the quality within the Liverpool squad as the deciding factor behind the Reds’ excellent start.

In reality, it’s probably a bit of both. While Liverpool do boast a quality group of players, Slot has undoubtedly been key at getting more out of them.

One player who is testament to that more than any other is Ryan Gravenberch. And as the midfielder goes from strength to strength, former Reds player Jermaine Pennant has claimed that Jurgen Klopp ‘missed a trick’ with Gravenberch.

Jurgen Klopp ‘missed a trick’ with Ryan Gravenberch

Gravenberch’s rise to being a nailed on starter with Liverpool has been quick and impressive.

The 22-year-old was a little on the periphery of things last season having been signed for £34m by Klopp.

There has been none of that under Slot, though. Gravenberch has missed just one minute of Liverpool’s 14-game Premier League and Champions League campaign so far.

And speaking to TalkSPORT, Pennant has hailed Slot for getting more out of both Gravenberch and Luis Diaz.

READ MORE: Paddy the Baddy predicts whether Arne Slot can win more than Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool

“What I think he’s [Slot] done amazingly well that Klopp didn’t is that he’s now starting to get the best out of Luis Diaz, he’s now chipping in with goals galore,” said the punidt.

“And the transformation of Gravenberch, putting him as the number six, Klopp missed a trick there, because we were playing Endo, no disrespect to Endo, as a stop-gap.

“He can’t do what Gravenberch does on the turn and driving through the midfield.”

Night and day for Ryan Gravenberch

Although Gravenberch has not been quite as eye-catching since the October international break, he has still been absolutely key for Liverpool.

The Reds have had such a tricky run of games and – the Carabao Cup win over Brighton aside – Gravenberch has played every single minute of action.

That is in real contrast to 2023/24, when Klopp didn’t really seem to trust him to get a run in the side.

This is not necessarily on Liverpool’s former manager, however. Gravenberch came to Anfield having played very little meaningful minutes for Bayern Munich in 2022/23.

Given the need to get the Dutchman settled in and up to speed, it was never really on the cards that he would be a key player for Klopp. Instead, Jurgen brought Gravenberch to the club, laid the groundwork with him and Slot is now reaping the rewards.