What Cody Gakpo Transfer Means For Liverpool Now And In The Future

Liverpool FC is set to complete a transfer for PSV’s Dutch forward Cody Gakpo for an initial $45 million, potentially rising to $53 million with add-ons.

The club has managed to sign a player who was in demand after an impressive showing at the World Cup and in recent months had been most publicly linked with a transfer to Manchester United.

Despite the apparent swift nature of this deal, Liverpool will not have suddenly become interested in Gakpo during the World Cup, made a bid on Christmas Day and completed the deal on Boxing Day.

The forward will have already been on their shortlist of attackers, and once such a player appears to be available, the club will decide whether to make a move.

Nevertheless, the deal was done relatively swiftly and was completed within hours of the links between Liverpool and the player being made public.

The transfer is a rare example of a club needing to fill a gap in their squad midseason and a quality player potentially able to fill it being available at the right time. It was likely accelerated by a setback to the recovery of Luis Diaz from injury.

This is why Liverpool will have moved so quickly to get the deal done, but it does raise a few questions.

Why Now? And Why Not a Midfielder?

The area in this Liverpool team most obviously in need of reinforcements is midfield.

It is something the club are looking to address, and something they tried to do in a fashion at the end of the 2022 summer transfer window with the last-minute signing of Arthur.

The Brazilian was brought in on loan from Juventus because he was available when other players weren’t. Names such as Jude Bellingham, Enzo Fernandez, and Moises Caicedo have been linked with the club, but wanting a player, and them being available, are two separate things.

The transfer rumour mill, when combined with video games and fantasy football, can lead to a skewed perception of how soccer’s transfer market works. The real-life transfer market is not a simple case of a club deciding they want a player and signing them.

There are a number of reasons a club may have to wait to sign a player, from the wishes of the player themselves to the willingness of their current club to sell.

Sometimes a player is more valuable to a team than the transfer fee they would potentially bring in, and sometimes there is even a certain etiquette involved in transfer deals, especially if a buying club wants to deal with the selling club again in the future.

One thing Gakpo is, is available. Numerous Premier League clubs have shown interest in the player, and there were even reports that he had agreed personal terms with Manchester United in the summer, but the club couldn’t afford both Gakpo and Antony in the same window and opted for the latter.

This revealed the Dutchman’s availability. PSV had attached a price tag, they needed the money so were willing to sell, and negotiations could begin.

It is not dissimilar to the move Liverpool made for Diaz in January 2022. Tottenham Hotspur was linked publicly with the Porto man, but privately Liverpool was getting the deal done, eventually signing the Colombian for an initial $48 million.

An injury to Diaz, including the further setback which will now keep him out until March, and Diogo Jota being out until the end of January or February, means Liverpool is light on quality depth in attack.

This situation, plus Gakpo’s availability in the transfer market, made it an easier decision for the club to act now. It doesn’t necessarily affect their pursuit of a midfielder.

And even once those other attacking players return, Gakpo could still operate alongside them in the Liverpool team.

Why Cody Gakpo?

The 23-year-old fills that immediate need for a wide forward on the left with Diaz and Jota out injured. It is the position Sadio Mané excelled in for many years at Liverpool under manager Jürgen Klopp before moving to FC Bayern in the summer 2022 transfer window.

Diaz was a good replacement and brought direct dribbling and skilful, tricky attacking play to Liverpool’s front line, but he is more a winger than a forward, and while he was a suitable replacement for Mané, he wasn’t like-for-like.

Gakpo is more in the Mané mould—a winger who can also act as an inside forward and a wide creator in one—though at this moment he creates more from direct attacking play and crosses (including corner kicks) than from more traditional playmaking.

Mané was regularly Liverpool’s go-to man for long passes, such was his ability in the air and the quality hold-up play. The Senegalese didn’t look like a typical target man but was nevertheless effective in this role.

Gakpo goes in the other direction. Standing at around 6 foot 2, he looks more like a typical target man but is perhaps most effective as a winger. He has played mostly on the left wing for PSV, cutting inside onto his stronger right foot, but for the Netherlands, as seen at the World Cup where he wore the No. 8 shirt usually given to a midfielder, he played a more central role either as a striker or as an attacking midfielder between two wide forwards.

The latter role is one that will have interested Liverpool, and his ability in central areas as well as out wide gives him a versatility Klopp will like.

With Roberto Firmino nearing the end of his contract and increasingly becoming more of a squad player than a first-choice one, another player who can play in central attacking positions in front of the midfield is very useful.

Gakpo’s ability to create and score goals from wide areas is demonstrated by his scouting report on FBref, below.

This compares him with players in what FBref terms “Next 8” leagues which are those just below the UEFA top five of England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain, and includes leagues in Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, and Mexico, as well as Major League Soccer.

The numbers show he is certainly an outstanding player—maybe the outstanding player—at this level, ranking between the 96th and 99th percentiles for all metrics related to attacking output.

These include expected assists (xAG) and expected goals (non-penalty xG) which show he is getting into good positions to create and score, while his actual number of goals and assists show he is converting once in those positions.

At his current level, he has the final pass, the final shot, and the ability to threaten opposition defences in a number of ways. The move to Liverpool will test whether he can make the step up.

His international teammate and soon-to-be club teammate, Virgil van Dijk, believes he has the ability to do so.

“I think he definitely has a next step in him,” the defender said of Gakpo while playing alongside him for the Netherlands at the World Cup.”

“I definitely feel like it could happen. Whether it [a transfer] happens in the winter or next year, time will tell.”

Maybe at this point Van Dijk knew of Liverpool’s interest, and was more than happy to big-up his Dutch teammate.

Given Liverpool’s injury problems in this area, it is likely he will get the chance to make this step sooner rather than later, and fans can look forward to a potential front line of Gakpo, Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah.

Gakpo’s attacking output and creativity, coupled with Núñez’s speed and directness and Salah’s magic is a potentially mouthwatering prospect for the club.

Liverpool may need a midfielder, but given injuries and the need for squad depth, a versatile forward was also required sooner rather than later.

For Gakpo and Liverpool, everything fell into place at just the right time.