Liverpool launch half-price bid for Erik ten Hag favourite

Stuart Telford

• 18 Aug 2023 15:59 BST
• 3 min read

Liverpool are set to launch a bid for Bayern Munich midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, but the numbers being talked about are unlikely to be accepted by the German champions.

Liverpool have already bolstered their midfield this season with the signings of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai from Brighton and RB Leipzig respectively, but with Fabinho and Jordan Henderson leaving for Saudi Arabia, there is more work to be done.

Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia have both chosen Chelsea over Liverpool in recent weeks, and Gravenberch has been identified as a key transfer target at Anfield.

READ: REVEALED: Liverpool's NEW midfield shortlist

Manchester United were linked with a move for the Netherlands midfielder last summer, Gravenberch and Erik ten hag having won two Dutch domestic doubles together, but he chose to join Bayern from Ajax instead.

Liverpool's Gravenberch bid

"According to BILD information, Liverpool would be willing to bid up to £20m (€23m)," reports SportBILD's head of football, Christian Falk. "It should take a bid of €30m, but as yet no offer to that effect has been received by Bayern."

Bayern paid just €18.5m for Gravenberch's services last summer, but he is now valued at €49.1 - more than twice Liverpool's intended €23m - despite starting just three of his 24 Bundesliga games last season.

READ: Liverpool handed BOOST in midfield search as club FORCED into selling stars

Gravenberch's age (21) and length of contract (30 June 2027) drive up his value, and the appraisal of Dutch experts like Rafael van der Vaart - who described the player as "better than Jude Bellingham at everything" lend wait to Gravenberch's ETV of €74m per FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm.

ETV is a potential transfer value assuming a players reaches the heights expected of them, and even if Gravenberch fails to do so, getting him for as little as €23m, or even €30m, would appear to be an unlikely steal.