Ronald Koeman has declared Ryan Gravenberch's banishment from the Netherlands national team over
Koeman is hoping the Liverpool midfielder can continue his progression to be in contention for a place at next year's European Championship.
Gravenberch made the major decision to turn down a Netherlands Under-21 call-up in favour of taking the two-week period to settle into his new surroundings
It is safe to say this did not go down well with Koeman and other Dutch bosses, who wholeheartedly disagreed with the idea of rejecting your country.
This meant 21-year-old sat out in September, then when it came to the October internationals both the senior and under-21 teams gave Gravenberch the cold shoulder.
Koeman
"No, that's over. Whether his withdrawal was understandable? Maybe, but I actually think that he was able to get the matches at the Dutch juniors that he did not play before.
"Of course, there is something to be said for him being like that, but I think that we at the KNVB should never be happy if someone does not opt-out for a good reason.
"I was also a football player, but you have to draw a line. We told Ryan: 'We understand it a bit, but we don’t think it’s okay. If you If you are called, you must come'."
Koeman added
“If he continues to develop in this way, he will join the Dutch national team,"
“I told him that I want to do it with the same group as much as possible in the coming international match.
"We are going to qualify [for the Euros], which means we will have practice matches in March and June. He is a midfielder who is definitely in the picture if he plays more.
"That was already the case at Bayern, but if you saw every weekend that he did not play or came on for five minutes, then it does not make sense to select him."
The midfielder has already started one more match for Liverpool in little over two months at the club than he did during the entire year he was a Bayern Munich player
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