Virgil van Dijk salutes Liverpool teammate for performance during international break

Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk has hailed teammate Ryan Gravenberch for the quality of his performance during the international break. The midfielder returned to the Dutch national team squad after an impressive start to the season and he carried on with the same level of displays.

Gravenberch joined the Reds in 2023 from Bayern Munich but was a fringe player in his debut season at the club, failing to start regularly. The arrival of countryman Arne Slot as a replacement for former manager Jürgen Klopp has seen his situation at Anfield change, earning him a recall to the national team.

Virgil Van Dijk featured alongside Gravenberch in both games for the Netherlands this month and was impressed with his displays. The midfielder posted pictures from the international break on his Instagram, and his club captain commented a clap emoji under his post.

"👏."

Before the international games, Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman said that Gravenberch needed to work on parts of his game. The 22-year-old showed his quality in the games against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Germany, recording a brilliant assist in the latter.

Former Ajax prodigy Gravenberch has started in all three of Liverpool's Premier League games since the start of the 2024-25 season. Following the club's failure to land a specialist defensive midfielder, Slot had Gravenberch fill in and he has done so to a high degree.

Ryan Gravenberch will hope that he can maintain this performance level when he returns to Liverpool for their next league game against Nottingham Forest. The Reds will try to make it four successive wins in the league when the two sides clash on Saturday (September 14).

Liverpool set to be without injured star for league return

Liverpool will be without talented midfielder Harvey Elliott when they return to action in the Premier League following the injury to the youngster. The 21-year-old injured his foot while on duty with the England U-21 national team.

Elliott did not make the cut for the senior England national team but was invited to the U-21 camp, where he felt some discomfort in his foot during training. The former Fulham man returned to Liverpool early, where it was discovered that he would miss up to six weeks of action.

The impact of the injury to Harvey Elliott will be cushioned by the return to fitness of Curtis Jones for Slot's side. Elliott is expected to return to action when his side face Chelsea after the October international break.