Birthday Boys – Felipe and Ryan Gravenberch

In today’s w edition of Birthday Boys we look at two different persepctives. We look at 31-year-old Felipe coming to the end of his playing days and we will look at 18-year-old Ajax player Ryan Gravenberch.

Felipe

The Brazillian defender turns 31 today and has seen his career peak later than most.

Felipe started his career in his native Brazil in 2011 for Bragantino after moving from União Mogi to the club on a free transfer.

He would only have a spell lasting six months at the club before departing the club for another Brazillian team. Ultimately, the defender played over 30 games for Bragantino before deciding to exit for a different club.

Many short stints at a bunch of Brazillian clubs followed, but the player finally got his breakthrough for Corinthians in 2012. In five seasons for the Brazillian giants, the centre-back would make 70 appearances for the club scoring three and assisting three goals in that period.

In July 2016, the Brazillian would make a switch moving to Europe and to Portuguese giants FC Porto for £7 million that summer. In his first season for Porto he made 45 appearances, the most single-season appearances he’s made in his career and hit the ground running in Portugal.

In his next two seasons, he made over 90 appearances for Porto showing some top clubs that he’s a top quality defender.

After losing Diego Godin, Atletico Madrid needed a centre-back to slot into the side and play alongside Jose Gimenez. They bought Felipe from Porto for £18 million and he’s been at Atletico ever since signing in 2019. He’s made 31 appearances so far for Atletico and has been a decent replacement for Godin.

Internationally, the Brazillian has only made one cap for his national team which came all the way back in 2018.

He’s won four titles in his career which have been the Copa Libertadores and Brazillian champions with Corinthians and the Portuguese Supercup and Portuguese champions with Porto and hopefully he can pick up some trophies with Atletico when football returns.

Ryan Gravenberch

This kid has serious talent in his locker. He turns 18 today and can and will turn into the next big thing if he uses his potential and plays regular football.

He joined Ajax’s youth system from Zeeburgia in 2010 and has risen through the ranks the past couple of years really excelling in his position.

In the U17’s, Gravenberch played 21 games, scoring an impressive 11 goals and assisting on two occasions. Then he made the step up to U19 football making 20 appearances and scoring four goals and assisting four times. U21 football followed with that being his best spell making over 40 appearances at that level for Ajax whilst scoring eight goals and getting 13 assists in the process.

In Septemeber 2019, the midfielder signed his professional contract for Ajax and has slowly started creaping into the side gaining minutes and experience along the way. He’s made 14 appearances so far for Ajax scoring four times and assisting once.

Gravenberch has played at every level up to U19 for the Netherlands and will soon possibly get his first cap for the senior team if his form follows and he continues to work hard for Ajax.

He’s won the Eredivise and the Dutch Cup with Ajax’s senior team, he won the Dutch league for the U17 and he’s won the European U17 Championships with Netherlands.