Jurgen Klopp has played down injury concerns surrounding new summer signing Ryan Gravenberch, insisting the midfielder had a cramp in their 3-1 win over LASK Linz in the UEFA Europa League, according to the Daily Mail.
Gravenberch made his first full debut for the Reds on Thursday night but was forced off due to an injury in the latter stages of their Europa League opener.
The 21-year-old impressed in the middle of the park as he brilliantly assisted Luis Diaz for the visitor’s second goal of the game to hand Klopp’s side the lead. He lasted for 75 minutes but had to be replaced by Mohamed Salah sparking fears he’d picked up a knock. Salah finished coolly through Tobias Lawal’s legs to seal a come-from-behind victory for Liverpool.
Speaking after the game, Klopp revealed that it made sense that Gravenberch suffered cramp as it was his first start in a while having featured consistently as a substitute for Bayern Munich last season.
“(He played) very good, he told me he had cramp so that makes sense,” the German told TNT Sports as quoted by the Daily Mail.
“It was his first start for a while I think and he did really well. For a long time he was the best player on the pitch and in the first-half frustration grew a little bit and you saw him getting lost a little bit, you know, “where is he?”.
‘But that’s normal these things happen but he stayed in the game as long as he could and had really good moments, set up a good goal for Luis Diaz and for not knowing a lot about his team-mates it looked pretty tuned.”
Relief
This will come as a huge relief for Liverpool fans who were keen to see Gravenberch in action after completing his move from Bayern on the transfer deadline day. He penned a long-term deal with the Reds after just one season in the Bundesliga.
The Netherlands U-21 international made his debut for the Merseysiders last Saturday in the 3-1 win over Wolves in the Premier League. He is now expected to be in contention to start in his first home match against West Ham.
Klopp could welcome back vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold and midfielder Thiago Alcantara ahead of their match week six encounter on Sunday.
Read more: Liverpool plan to sign £130m star next summer, player could be open to moving to Anfield
