Ryan Gravenberch reacted to the criticisms of Marco van Basten on Tuesday evening after the won Champions League match against Besiktas (2-0). After the 0-5 victory over Fortuna Sittard, the Ajax midfielder indicated that he is struggling with concentration problems, a statement that did not sit well with Van Basten. In talk show Rondo Van Basten called the youngster’s statements on Sunday ‘really inappropriate’.
After the match against Besiktas, Gravenberch was confronted with the criticisms of Van Basten. “Do you know what it is? I just always remain open and honest, I just say everything that comes to mind,” said a sober Gravenberch in conversation with Bas van Veenendaal at Ziggo Sports. “As a player you always get criticized, you have to learn to deal with it. If Marco says that, yes, then he says that. He can say what he wants.”
‘Van Basten can say what he wants’ ?? Gravenberch played a great game today and was concentrated for the full 90 minutes ?? The young midfielder had received something from the criticism of analyst Van Basten at Rondo ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #AJABES pic.twitter.com/b1lGkajFmW
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) September 28, 2021
Van Basten didn’t mince words on Sunday when it came to Gravenberch’s concentration problems. “I think this is really strange. This boy is just coming to watch. Then you can’t say that you have to concentrate?”, says Van Basten. “He is eighteen, by the way. When you are eighteen, you cannot say this. If you are not motivated by then, you will be 22 later, what are you going to do? I think it is really inappropriate, really inappropriate, if you are eighteen , are nineteen or twenty years old. If you excel every week in the Dutch league, okay. But this one is really just coming up. How many good matches has he played? A few, and then you are already fed up?”
Gravenberch once again showed his class on the field against Besiktas and was regarded as one of the stars at Ajax, which was 2-0 too strong for the Turks due to goals from Steven Berghuis and Sébastien Haller. “I thought Gravenberch played very well. He rules, is big, strong, calm on the ball. In principle, he has everything”, analyst Rafael van der Vaart also saw. “The only thing he shouldn’t do is take corners and free kicks. I don’t know who made that up? He shouldn’t do that. He doesn’t have that natural kick.”
The midfielder himself thought that Ajax dominated almost the entire match. “You always have to start bright and if we start like this, they don’t really come around anymore,” said Gravenberch. In the second half there was significantly less to enjoy than in the first company, the the Dutch international also saw. “How can I say that? We didn’t play wrong in the second half, I think. We only started to play more on possession. We didn’t give away super big chances.”