Ryan Gravenberch has transformed into one of the best midfielders in the Premier League thanks to Arne Slot’s influence at Liverpool. Since spelling changes at Anfield, the Dutch gaffer helped Gravenberch earn his best role and become an unstoppable machine in their midfield.
The 22-year-old midfielder has earned thousands of new fans with his heroics at Liverpool, but the road to fame hasn’t been an easy one for the Dutchman. Ryan was at least fortunate to be from a football-crazy family in which both his parents adored the sport and were only too happy to let him pursue it as a career.
Gravenberch was born on 16 May, 2002 to Ryan Gravenberch (Sr) and Aretha Gravenberch. His parents are originally of Afro-Surinamese origin, who were born in Suriname but later immigrated to Amsterdam. It was also in the popular city that Ryan and his elder brother Danzell (eight years older to him) were born and brought up.
Ryan Gravenberch grew up in the Ijburg neighbourhood of Amsterdam. It’s a residential neighbourhood that is still under construction and built on artificial islands that have been raised from the lake. Ryan Sr spoke to ELF Voetbal about his years growing up in the Ijburg neighbourhood, stating: “We were among the first residents of IJburg. It was a big construction site when we settled. There was no football club yet. There were plans for one. Marco Medik took the initiative to train the youngest youth and at the age of four, Ryan was running around in the hall on IJburg. With two brothers who played football, he just rolled into it. He was the Johan Cruijff of the hall. Even though he was the youngest. That didn’t matter. He passed everyone.”
The reason why Ryan was able to catch the sport so easily is because his parents were both amateur-level footballers. Ryan Sr played for a club named KJSB. This club is one of the three amateur Amsterdam clubs to have formed the amateur side Zuidoost United in the Amsterdam-Zuidoost borough in 2010.
Gravenberch’s dad was a banker and used to work in the financial advisor department of ING Bank’s business unit in Southeast Amsterdam. A financial advisor in the Bank is rumoured to earn £26,000-£59,000 salary-a-year, so the Gravenberch family was at least financially secure enough to allow Ryan to focus on his football career over anything else.
Aretha Gravenberch was a homemaker responsible for looking after the children. Both she and Ryan Sr decided early on to help their children pursue football careers and achieve their dream. Ryan Sr’s close friendship with amateur club AVV Zeeburgia’s youth department head Mike Kolf helped him enroll his younger son to amateur club when he was only seven, with Danzell also playing there before Ryan.
After playing at Zeeburgia for a year, Gravenberch moved to Ajax’s academy at the age of eight in 2010. He spent nine years grind it out at the academy and was even the first-ever recipient of the ‘Abdelhak Nouri Trofee’ as a recognition for being the best talent in the academy in 2018. At the age of 16, he started playng for Jong Ajax (reserves) and Ajax’s senior team simulteanously before transitioning into a proper first-teamer from 2020 onwards.
All throughout his journey at Ajax, Gravenberch’s parents were firmly behind him in giving him the right kind of motivation and support to push him onwards. They were not strictly and disciplinary in trying to keep him away from stuff like fast food, gaming or just relaxing on the couch watching TV.
Describing the 22-year-old’s personality while growing up, his dad claimed: “He’s a real couch guy . We recently bought another couch; well, he curses us. We used to have a really deep couch with a chaise longue, now we have a normal couch that you have to sit on. He’ll say ‘This couch, man, why did you get rid of that old one?’ That chaise longue was his domain, he could really lie down on it. Phone next to it, Nintendo Switch, remote control, TV on; if you have to describe him, it’s really on the couch with his gear , something to eat and drink and music on. That’s his home.”
Ryan Sr adored watching his son excel for Netherlands’ biggest club in Ajax, but always shared a deep bond with the amateur football level. In 2015, he became a board member for Zuidoost United. In fact, he even inspired his son to be an admirable character, with the 22-year-old midfielder opening up a ‘Cruyff Court’ earlier in 2024 in the Egoli street in Amsterdam-Zuidoost to help kids play football on a guarded, well-maintained pitch.
The Liverpool midfielder is now on top of the world, dominating Premier League midfielders. But his hunger to excel and tendency to remain humble comes from his hard-working parents and their determination to ensure Ryan could fulfill their dream of representing the household at the very top of European football.
