Jurgen Klopp reveals long-term admiration of new Liverpool signing Ryan Gravenberch

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted he has been a fan of new signing Ryan Gravenberch since coming up against him at Ajax during the 2020/21 Champions League.

Gravenberch completed his move from Bayern Munich to the Reds on transfer deadline day, penning a long-term contract at Anfield.

90min first reported of Liverpool's interest in Gravenberch back in April, with the midfielder later informing Bayern Munich that he would like to explore the chance to leave the Allianz Arena after just one season at the club.

Liverpool moved forth with their summer rebuild by signing three new midfielders in Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo, while they were just pipped to Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia by Chelsea.

During the final days of the summer window, they also made a firm attempt to sign Gravenberch, wrapping up his signing just before Friday's deadline.

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Speaking to Liverpool's club channels, Klopp revealed his delight to finally bring in the 21-year-old.

"Really happy to bring him in because he's an exceptional talent. Everybody knows that. He is 21, played over 100 games for Ajax already," Klopp said.

"Had a, I wouldn't even say difficult season at Bayern because in that age group it's completely normal; you go into a world-class team and he had his minutes and stuff like this.

"But how Thomas Tuchel said today in the press conference in Munich I think, the position he is best at, they don't really have in their system. We have that - that's good. We have a lot of games to play. We will see how long he needs now because I don't know, we need to have a look at that. He had a full pre-season, that's good. The medical was as clear as it can be pretty much, looks really fit."

When asked if he had been tracking Gravenberch for a long time, Klopp replied: "Of course. Yeah, of course. We played him, obviously - I think the Ajax game was behind closed doors if I am right, that's why the memories are not that great for the game. But, Ajax, OK in the moment they have to rebuild their team as well, but the team they had before with him, with [Frenkie] De Jong, with all these boys, that was a really, really good team and playing the way they play is great.

"But of course, the Premier League is a different league and we will see how long it takes but it is obviously a long-term project but he can help us in the short term as well. That's good."

LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST

On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth, Graeme Bailey and Sean Walsh to discuss the deals that did and didn't happen on deadline day. They talk over Ryan Gravenberch's move to Liverpool, why Joao Palhinha didn't join Bayern Munich, Sofyan Amrabat's loan to Man Utd and more.

If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!