Jamie Carragher Compares Liverpool Star to Member of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ Team

Liverpool have been nothing short of imperious in the early stages of Arne Slot’s tenure and defender-turned-pundit Jamie Carragher has likened one of the Dutchman’s players to that of former Arsenal and Juventus lynchpin Patrick Vieira.

Still fighting on all four fronts, Slot has made the enviable task of filling the shoes of the much-beloved Jurgen Klopp look effortless, encountering very few problems in his quest for silverware. Thus far, he’s lost just three times in 37 games across all competitions.

That’s thanks to the upturn in performances of Curtis Jones, the ever-reliable nature of Virgil van Dijk’s displays and Mohamed Salah firing on all cylinders – but there have been a myriad of unsung heroes in Liverpool’s silverware-hunting season.

Carragher, who turned out 737 times for the Anfield based outfit, has insinuated that midfielder Ryan Gravenberch has been one of Slot’s best performers since the start of the 2024/25 campaign. Ahead of their 4-0 rout over Tottenham Hotspur, per The Mirror, he said:

“It is really interesting as they thought a lot of him when he came in. The reason Bayern Munich let him go was because they played a different system. Liverpool played 4-3-3, he was more of an attacking midfielder, he would go on runs with his long legs.”

Admitting a sense of scepticism when Gravenberch was first asked to operate as the lone scanner in front of the back four, Carragher continued, “When Liverpool tried out players in the six as they were in pre-season, everyone had a go in there.

“Curtis Jones did it, Gravenberch did it, Szoboszlai did it in a pre-season so he was almost trialling players before he knew whether he could get Zubimendi. They weren’t fully sure of the idea – he was more attacking. When they decided on him, I was really intrigued, but I couldn’t see how it would work.

He then went one step further to suggest that Amsterdam-born Gravenberch – who, at the time of writing, has racked up the third-most Premier League minutes in Liverpool’s squad this season – has every chance of winning Player of the Year.

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Likening him to ex-Arsenal destroyer Vieira, who is widely recognised as one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history, Carragher touched on the Dutchman’s rangy frame and how that allows him to breeze past opposition with ease.

“And the person you’d probably say he reminisces a little bit, he’s not quite there yet, is Patrick Vieira. When you look at those long legs, the way he moved through midfield in that first game against Ipswich – that’s Vieira like. He has been a revelation.”

Gravenberch, 22, moved to England from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023 and his initial bedding-in period under the aforementioned Klopp was not as fruitful as many expected. Under Slot, however, he’s a different breed of midfielder.