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Back in October, Ajax released a YouTube video called ‘The Amstergems’ ahead of their Champions League clash with Liverpool.
It compares the club’s young players to stones, labelling them as “rough” and “uncut”, but explains that they’re “polished under the highest pressure” until they become diamonds. They then move on, and the next generation arrives to follow the same process.
It’s a symbol of Ajax’s identity, the way that they’re run and have built their success over the years. Their academy, De Toekomst (which translates to ‘the future’), is at the heart of everything they do. 18-year-old Ryan Gravenberch is one of the best examples of that.
He features in the video alongside two of the club’s other young stars, Mohammed Kudus and Antony, but there’s a key difference between Gravenberch and his featured teammates.
Kudus started his career at the Ghanaian football academy ‘Right to Dream’, before moving to Danish club Nordsjælland in 2018, and then to Ajax two years later. Antony built his way up through São Paulo’s academy in his native Brazil, playing 42 games for the senior side before joining Kudus in Amsterdam in the same year.
Gravenberch, on the other hand, is a graduate of Ajax’s esteemed academy, having joined at just eight years old. Ten years later and he’s playing a crucial part in the club’s Eredivisie and Champions League campaigns.
A 6’3” midfielder, Gravenberch was singled out as the brightest star in the club’s academy when he won the inaugural “Abdelhak Nouri Trofee” in 2018. He signed his first contract with de Godenzonen in June that year, making his professional debut two months later in Jong Ajax’s 5-2 win against FC Dordrecht in the Eerste Divisie, the Dutch second tier.
Almost exactly a month on from his first professional appearance, he was brought into the first team for their clash against PSV. Ajax went on to lose 3-0, but Gravenberch really hasn’t looked back since.
His meteoric rise highlights him as a poster boy for what Ajax stands for. The club’s CEO, Edwin Van Der Sar, once said that “Ajax aren’t afraid to give people an opportunity to start playing. If you’re good enough, it doesn’t matter how old or young you are, you’re in the team”. Gravenberch fits that mould to a tee.
His Eredivisie debut against PSV saw him become the youngest player to feature for Ajax in the Dutch top-flight. He was 112 days younger than Clarence Seedorf was when he made his debut against Groningen in November 1992 at just 16 years and 242 days old.
Seedorf went on to take the number eight shirt a year after his Ajax debut. The same number worn by the likes of Frank Rijkaard, Edgar Davids, Christian Eriksen and the legendary Johan Cruyff. It now belongs to 18-year-old Gravenberch.
He has remained almost omnipresent on the left side of the midfield trio in Erik Ten Hag’s 4-3-3 system this season. His role is incredibly important but unimaginably difficult. When playing alongside two attack-minded midfielders in Davy Klaassen and Zakaria Labyad, he often has to sit deep when Ajax push forward in case they get hit on the counter.
One of the things that impressed me the most when watching the 18-year-old was how calm he is on the ball. Ajax play an incredibly progressive and attacking style of football, which focuses on quick passes and sharp transitions that slice through the opposition. As a result, they often find themselves being pressed hard into making mistakes and being exploited defensively. This can really be seen in their recent 2-1 defeat at home to FC Twente.
As one of the youngest first-team regulars in the lineup, opposition players can often be seen targeting Gravenberch when he’s on the ball. They try to force him into giving away possession and setting up a counterattack of their own. However, his quick and composed decision making has become a feature of why he’s such a crucial part of this Ajax side.
Some of the more senior players in the team often try to pick him out when they’re under pressure themselves because they know that he has the passing range to get the ball out of trouble and further up the pitch. That’s an incredible weight to bear for such a young player.
On top of his defensive importance, Gravenberch has shown that he can contribute going forward as well. In his nine Eredivisie appearances last season, he scored two goals and got one assist. He’s yet to score in the league this season but has three assists to his name, as well as a goal of the season contender in Ajax’s 3-1 Champions League win against FC Midtjylland.
That confidence at both ends of the pitch is incredibly rare for such a young player. He embraces the significance of his role with immense maturity and composure. His standout features have even drawn comparisons to Paul Pogba, but having come through at De Toekomst, it feels like Gravenberch has a much higher ceiling than the Frenchman.
At age 18, Pogba was scrapping and clawing for any opportunity in Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side. At the same age, Gravenberch is a first-team regular for Ajax in the Eredivisie and the Champions League, receiving a call up to the Netherlands senior squad for the first time in November 2020 as a result.
That depth of experience at such a young age is invaluable. The fact that Ajax give their youth players such a huge platform to play at the highest level is why so many of them reach such incredible heights throughout their respective careers.
The club will be under no illusion that Gravenberch will leave the Johan Cruyff Arena at some point over the coming years, but the colossal transfer fee that they’ll inevitably receive will help to bring through the next cycle of young players. The next set of stones to be turned into diamonds. The next ‘Amstergems’.
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