Liverpool was right when it said that the player was a “game-changer,” even though it took longer than expected. Jude Bellingham is doing great, but Jürgen Klopp brought in other players.

In a few years, Liverpool will remember the summer of 2023 as a key one. It looks like it was a good one so far. It got some important pieces of its future in Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, and Ryan Gravenberch.

And that was all after it became impossible to make a move for Jude Bellingham. The superstar player from Real Madrid was wanted for a long time, but it became clear after last season that big changes had to be made. The focus of the transfers had to shift to building a new center at Anfield.

That meant a once-in-a-generation star was lost, though he might have chosen Real Madrid anyway. If things were different, Liverpool would still be in a lot of trouble. Bellingham hasn’t helped matters by finding even more levels in his first few months in Spain.

But Jürgen Klopp’s team keeps going in the right direction, and they’ve already done enough to make it look like their time in the Europa League will be short. Thoughts are no longer on Bellingham. That’s because Liverpool will definitely start to think it got the better deal.

To begin with, Bellingham by himself would not have given Klopp the strength he has now. He has been moved a lot this season, which will help him in the future. But that’s not all. Even though Liverpool didn’t get Bellingham, it looks like they didn’t have to give up that “starboy” quality.

To show how well Klopp’s rebuilding has worked all around, Ryan Gravenberch has not had an easy time getting starts just yet. But each week that goes by makes him look more unique as he gets used to things.

The club will be happy with how well he has played at times, especially since his growth had stopped for a year at Bayern Munich. However, this won’t come as a huge surprise. After all, Melissa Reddy said that he, along with Bellingham and Aurélien Tchouaméni, had been marked as a possible “game-changer” in the summer of 2022.

It’s clear that Gravenberch isn’t yet as good as Bellingham. But it’s easy to see why Liverpool thought he had a similarly high ceiling. This player hasn’t played much football in the past year, but he’s starting to really take over on the field.

Gravenberch always makes football look easy. He has done this against Everton, Manchester City, and many other teams. He is so smooth when he gets the ball, and with just a touch, he can take an opponent out of the game. He moves the side forward once he is looking the right way.

He also has the chance to score goals at the end. To put it another way, he could become the whole package, just like Bellingham has. It looks like Liverpool will have to use his skills in a way similar to how Real Madrid did with Bellingham. When that happens, you might even talk about the two in the same group.

But even if that doesn’t happen, Liverpool paid $41 million (£34 million or €39 million) for this player. It’s about $98 million less than what Real Madrid paid for the player from Birmingham.

An undervalued product has been picked up, and this is a real return to “Moneyball” for Liverpool. This move already looks like it will pay off hugely for many years to come. The club finally got its “game-changer,” and with Szoboszlai on board too, it may have gotten two for less than the price of Bellingham.