Ryan Gravenberch’s sporting future may lie in Barcelona. Lluís Canut, a well-known journalist in Spain, writes on behalf of Saturday Mundo Deportivo that Barcelona is ‘very interested’ in the midfielder of Ajax. The the Dutch International, who will turn nineteen later this month, is seen at Camp Nou as a possible successor to Sergio Busquets, who will turn 33 in July and has a contract until the summer of 2023.
The technical department and the technical staff, headed by Ronald Koeman, are said to be of the opinion that Gravenberch has all the qualities and capabilities to take the place of Busquets ‘in the future’. Canut, who uses the term ‘the new Frank Rijkaard’, writes that Barcelona wants to prevent the asking price for Gravenberch from becoming anything but market-based and therefore an offer in the summer cannot be ruled out.
Gravenberch has now made it clear several times that he just wants to stay with Ajax for next season. “I would love to stay with Ajax. I have to develop even more. When I am ready, I am ready, but not yet ”, the teenager emphasized after the victory of the TOTO KNVB Cup. Gravenberch attended Ajax’s youth academy from 2010 and made his debut in the first team on 23 September 2018 in the PSV – Ajax match (3-0).
Gravenberch was already emphatically in the picture at Barcelona at the age of fifteen, even before he signed a professional contract with Ajax. José Fortes Rodriguez, who works closely with Mino Raiola, was according to that at the time Mundo Deportivo in Barcelona to discuss a possible contract, but in the end the midfielder committed himself longer to Ajax.
Gravenberch is not the only footballer that Barcelona aims to follow in the footsteps of Busquets in the future. Nineteen-year-old Nico González from Barcelona B is also seen as an excellent solution: both parties almost have an agreement on a new contract. The names of Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Eduardo Camavinga (Stade Rennes) and Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad) are also mentioned, although opinions about this are very divided internally.