After joining the Reds on the final day of the transfer window, Ryan Gravenberch has given Liverpool what could be a slight worry.
The Dutchman joined Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Wataru Endo in moving to Anfield in a deal for up to £40 million from Bayern Munich as part of Jurgen Klopp’s £150 million midfield makeover.
The summer departures of James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Nat Phillips, and Sepp van den Berg, as well as the loan departures of these players, left Liverpool without any players who had received qualifying association training at this time.
It is questionable whether or not to include the latter academy pair, who have never played for the first team.
Aside from players who have received local training, teams may select as many qualified Under-21s players from List B as they like in addition to a maximum of 17 foreign players from List A for their 25-man roster. The Reds presently have 16 international players that are older than 21.
However, neither Gravenberch nor highly-touted starlet Ben Doak are qualified for a spot on List B despite being categorized as Under-21s players under Premier League criteria. This is due to the rule that states:
“A player may be registered on List B if he is born on, or after, January 1, 2002 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year.”
Neither Doak nor Gravenberch have accrued the needed “uninterrupted period of two years” at Anfield due to their summer 2017 transfers from Celtic and the Reds, respectively. They are competing for the final overseas spot in the senior 25-man team as a result.