Ryan Gravenberch: the next big thing at Ajax?

Ajax is obviously known for producing some of the best young talents in world football on a regular basis and they seem to have found another promising midfielder Ryan Gravenberch. But how good is the young player of Ajax? And is he ready for a big move to another league?

When the great Ajax side of the 2018/19 season slowly fell apart, with many of their stars like De Jong, Van de Beek or De Ligt, leaving for bigger clubs across Europe, the general perception was that the Dutch giant was going to need some time to rebuild and develop their next young talents.

Well, it didn’t take that long as Ajax already has another exciting group of young players and one of the most promising talents is a midfielder that has risen through the ranks of their own academy, Ryan Gravenberch. At only 18 years old, Gravenberch is already a starting midfielder at Ajax’s senior team and he has proven his quality so far this season, being one of the key cogs of Ten Haag’s football machine and one of the best players of the team so far this season.

In terms of characteristics, Ryan Gravenberch has been compared to Paul Pogba and it’s easy to see the resemblance: they have very similar charachterists, very similar skill sets and their abilities on-the-ball are just as remarkable. Perhaps the biggest difference is that the Paul Pogba has a lot more range in his passing, capable of throwing long balls, while Gravenberch tends to be a bit shyer in that particular regard and that is something he has to work on. However, if we consider that he is only 18-year-old, his improvement margins are huge.

One thing you can trust Ajax with is the fact that they are the best at developing young talents and while Ryan Gravenberch might need time to develop at the Eredivisie, he has clearly the potential to become a top player in the coming years.