A Feyenoord player with extensive experience playing alongside Ryan Gravenberch has been linked to Liverpool. It would be sage for Jürgen Klopp to move.
Whether it is still early in 2023–24, Liverpool’s midfield renovation seems to have gone as smoothly as anyone could have imagined—if not better. The team’s core appears to be well-stocked with talent for years to come.
For the rest of the Premier League and the Reds’ European competitors, the fact that Alexis Mac Allister will shortly turn 25 and is one of Jürgen Klopp’s older possibilities for a midfield position should be terrifying. A repetition of Liverpool’s core troubles in 2022–23 should not happen anytime soon with the Argentine, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones, and Harvey Elliott present and performing well.
This is not to say that there aren’t any open questions. Wataru End can be happy with the first few months of his English career, but questions remain about whether he will be a long-term holding midfield solution. A considerably younger player with extensive experience playing alongside one of the Reds’ most recent midfield additions has been linked to the club.
Quinten Timber has been scouted by several Premier League teams, including Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United, who have reportedly been impressed with what they have observed. He is the twin brother of Jurrin, the Gunners’ summer signing, so if the name seems familiar, that’s because it does. To say that they were close is an understatement; a New York Times report from earlier this year revealed that, when representing Feyenoord and Ajax, respectively, they shared a bedroom at their parents’ home.
Quinten’s association with Gravenberch, though, offers Liverpool the most intriguing possibilities. According to Transfermarkt, the Reds’ new signing is Timber’s 13th most frequent teammate from his career, even if their shared experiences have been at the junior rather than senior levels. However, the pair has traveled quite a distance, representing Ajax and the Netherlands at the U17, U19, and U21 levels. It’s fair to assume that Gravenberch and Timber have a history together, and that may be advantageous.
At the most recent UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where Jones scored the game-winning goal for England, the two were last seen together. The Dutch were unsuccessful because they were eliminated before the knockout stage, but their squad rosters offer an intriguing possibility. In a 4-2-3-1 configuration, Gravenberch and Timber teamed up in the base of the midfield, with Timber serving as the team’s captain.
