It is the stuff of administration goals – a blank cheque to establish the most interesting young starting up XI in entire world football.
But that is specifically what new BBC Sounds podcast Wunderkids is offering, in fantasy variety at minimum, around its 11 episodes. The first three episodes are accessible to listen to now.
The Wunderkids staff, in conjunction with BBC Sport, have occur up with 11 players – and presenter Steve Crossman will be joined by specialists to explore the most current inclusion, with just one new participant uncovered each individual week.
So considerably, new Manchester City ahead Julian Alvarez and Bayer Leverkusen winger Florian Wirtz have manufactured the lower – and now Ajax midfielder Ryan Gravenberch joins them.
Who is he?
At just 19, Gravenberch has now played 93 instances for Ajax and 10 for the senior Netherlands group, which includes 2 times at Euro 2020.
He is a deep-lying central midfielder with a great motor who chips in with the odd target also, turning into the youngest player given that 1981 to rating in a Dutch Cup remaining final period.
In 2018, aged 16 years and 130 times, he turned the youngest participant to element for Ajax in the Eredivisie – beating a history set by the famous Clarence Seedorf in 1992.
The brother of ex-Examining striker Danzell Gravenberch, Ryan has been as opposed to compatriots Frank Rijkaard and Frenkie de Jong – and referred to as a “greater model of Paul Pogba”.
Manchester United and Liverpool are among the the European giants linked with a go to check out and entice him from Ajax.
What does the pro say?
De Telegraaf journalist Marcel van der Kraan
“If you glimpse at his father, he is 6ft 5in, a big of a person. Absolutely that’s where the height arrived from. Ryan has an athlete’s physique.
“This is possibly why he stood out so early and why Ajax picked him, with his wonderful capabilities and method, and brought him to the academy. They could easily put him three or 4 many years above his own age. Which is when people today commenced to discover out this child was only 12. They considered he is going to be a planet beater.
“This transpires to just about every single child who is tall and of Surinam history. He receives that label – ‘this is the new Frank Rijkaard’. All people thinks he is the great player to stick to in the footsteps of Rijkaard, but that is a massive expectation, it is practically as well big for him. No person can be the next Rijkaard.
“He is a wonderful child. When he was 16 and built his debut I could not feel my eyes. So considerably he’s managing it all genuinely well.
“That evening in the Champions League towards Liverpool at the Amsterdam Arena [in the first game of last season’s group stages] he was provided a put in the commencing line-up. He taken care of it as if it was a regular point and as if the Champions League was his playground.
“Ajax manager Erik 10 Hag enjoys players like Gravenberch, a player who can make that staff tick.
“I would say it is 60% that he will go [this summer], 40% he will keep. I think he’d be a Barcelona participant and if Xavi needs to participate in the tiki-taka style he’d be perfect for that.”
What does the admirer say?
Juan Kaluf from We Discuss Ajax:
“What makes him so special is his bodily presence. He has performed a lot of matches, he knows how to drive the ball ahead and perform in restricted areas and he’s really agile considering how large he is.
“It helps make us pretty proud to see him appear via the academy, it’s fantastic. He reminds us of Frenkie de Jong for the reason that of the model of play, his role in the team, but they’re not exactly the exact. He sits deep and drives the ball ahead.”
