Slot sold Liverpool's new Alonso for £15m, now he's better than Gravenberch

Liverpool‘s season have been disappointing, but there’s still time for Arne Slot to ensure that it doesn’t turn out to be a disaster.

Retaining the Premier League title is well out of reach and has been for some time, but Liverpool are in the middle of a dogfight for Champions League qualification, and that they cannot fumble.

However, Slot will need his star players to return to form – and quickly. The Reds have been well below the standards, and while so many have flattered to deceive, Ryan Gravenberch‘s decline in midfield has caused any number of problems.

Why Ryan Gravenberch has declined

Gravenberch’s fall-off hasn’t been as dramatic as some of his peers at Liverpool this season, but it’s arguably had a more significant impact on the side’s overarching fluency.

Liverpool analyst Sam McGuire suggested that a tweak to the Dutchman’s role has caused “a huge imbalance to the Liverpool midfield“. He has more attacking license, and seven goal contributions in the league this term attest to that.

However, are Liverpool the better for it? Is Slot’s system firing on all cylinders? No, it is not.

Last season, Gravenberch, 23 years old, was awarded the honour of Premier League Young Player of the Year. It was a deserved honour for a deserving champion.

But much has changed down Anfield Road, and it’s clear that Slot’s side could do with some variation in their deep-lying midfield department, with the recent defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers underscoring the midfielder’s issues right now.

FFC’s Liverpool Ratings vs Wolves
Player	#
(GK) Alisson	5/10
(RB) Jeremie Frimpong	5/10
(CB) Ibrahima Konate	6/10
(CB) Virgil van Dijk	5/10
(LB) Milos Kerkez	6/10
(CM) Ryan Gravenberch	4/10
(CM) Alexis Mac Allister	6/10
(RW) Mohamed Salah	6/10
(AM) Dominik Szoboszlai	6/10
(LW) Cody Gakpo	4/10
(CF) Hugo Ekitike	5/10

How frustrating that Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes have already sold a Xabi Alonso-esque rival.

Liverpool sold an Alonso-esque Gravenberch rival

Liverpool’s midfield have lacked the balance, fluidity and ferocity to even shallowly mimic last year’s lofty level, and Gravenberch has been at the epicentre.

However, it could have been different had Slot kept the faith in Tyler Morton, who left for Lyon in France in a £15m deal last summer after a shortage of opportunities. The England U21 international is swiftly proving himself to be a top talent, a regular starter for his new club.

Said by talent scout Jacek Kulig to be a “similar type of player” to Alonso, he certainly has the base skillset to succeed. Swift and creative on the ball, combative when against the flow of play, Morton has gone from strength to strength in Ligue 1.

Gravenberch is obviously one of the most talented midfielders in the Premier League, perhaps with a higher ceiling than Morton. But there is an art to applying

The Dutchman is too reliant on the sideways pass. In the Premier League this season, he ranks among the bottom 13% of midfielders for long balls attempted and the bottom 6% for long ball success rate per 90.

League Comparison (2025/26)
Stats (* per game)	Gravenberch	Morton
Matches (starts)	27 (27)	21 (21)
Goals	4	2
Assists	3	2
Touches*	71.6	67.3
Accurate passes*	51.2 (90%)	45.9 (88%)
Chances created*	0.9	1.2
Succ. dribbles*	0.9 (56%)	0.5 (63%)
Ball recoveries*	4.1	4.2
Tackles + interceptions*	3.1	2.6
Total duels (won)*	3.7 (58%)	2.9 (58%)

Morton, by comparison, ranks far more favourably for those metrics, among the top 10% for long balls per 90 and the top 22% for success rate.

Here we see the crux of Liverpool’s problems in the middle of the park. With the likes of Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah ineffective out wide, and with Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister unable to play with energy and dynamism in midfield, Slot’s system has gone stale.

The head coach says he would like to see his side play expansively and entertainingly, but it’s not happening right now, and with each passing match week, it becomes a deeper concern, a bigger crisis.

Morton would have provided some variation, at least. The issue is that Gravenberch is irreplaceable in his anchoring role. No one can do it quite like him.

But when he’s ineffective, as has been the case across a multitude of performances this season – the last of which being the Wolves defeat that saw him hooked at half-time – Liverpool don’t have a Plan B.

Morton would have been perfect in that regard. Bringing a maestro-like quality that echoes the one-time form of Alonso on Merseyside.

Is Morton a more naturally gifted player than Gravenberch? Maybe not, but Liverpool have got plenty of talent in their ranks, but not enough application.

In that, they made a big mistake when selling this homegrown prospect.