Cody Gakpo: Navigating Competition and Future at Liverpool
Cody Gakpo walked through the mixed zone with two more World Cup goals to his name and a question he knew was coming.
How does this version of him – the one in orange, gliding in from the left and deciding games – compare with the player Liverpool have used in a variety of roles?
“A good question. Obviously it's a little bit different,” he replied. “It's different where the coach wants me to be, the freedom that I have,” he added, then checked himself before saying any more.
The pause said plenty.
A left winger in a crowded room
Gakpo’s latest World Cup brace for the Netherlands arrived in the same week Liverpool moved decisively in his area of the pitch.
Victor Munoz has joined from Osasuna for £34.5m, another left-sided winger brought into an already congested front line. Liverpool have also pushed ahead with a package worth £86m for RB Leipzig’s 19-year-old forward Yan Diomande, a highly rated talent comfortable on either flank.
Two signings, both able to operate where Gakpo prefers to play. The question almost asks itself: what does that mean for his future at Anfield?
On paper, Gakpo’s Liverpool story should be secure. In Arne Slot’s title-winning 2024-25 campaign, he delivered 18 goals and seven assists in 49 games across all competitions. Those numbers underpinned the long-term contract he signed last summer, a deal he was understood to be delighted with at the time.
Then came last season. Three more matches, but only nine goals and six assists. A drop-off, and not just for him. Liverpool’s attack misfired as a unit, yet Gakpo will know that for a player in his prime years, those returns will not be enough if the club keeps buying around him.
Learning a new partnership
Gakpo’s preference is clear: left wing, cutting inside, facing the goal. Liverpool’s evolving structure has demanded more nuance.
The 2025-26 season exposed just how much work his relationship with Milos Kerkez still needs. The Hungarian left-back loves to surge beyond his winger, but too often the timing between the pair looked off, the angles not quite right, the overlaps ignored or spotted a fraction too late.
Their understanding did improve as the season wore on. Kerkez, now reunited with former Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola, is expected to accelerate again next season. A more confident, tactically sharper Kerkez could be exactly what Gakpo needs: a full-back who drags markers away, opens lanes inside and gives him the kind of freedom he clearly craves.
That’s the optimistic view. And Liverpool have reasons to keep it.
Proven numbers, rising pressure
Gakpo’s record in red remains strong. Fifty goals in 180 appearances make him only the second Dutchman after Dirk Kuyt to hit a half-century for Liverpool. When fit, he has usually been first choice.
Inside the club, he is still regarded as a proven Premier League attacker, someone who can be reconfigured without losing his edge. That versatility matters more than ever with Hugo Ekitike facing a lengthy absence, potentially until 2027, after rupturing his Achilles. Gakpo’s ability to play centrally gives Iraola another option in a squad that must be rebalanced on the fly.
But the landscape around him is shifting. Mohamed Salah has gone. At least one more attacking signing is expected. The Diomande pursuit is gathering pace. Talented teenager Rio Ngumoha is primed for a bigger role. Florian Wirtz, who spent spells off the left last season and is playing there for Germany at the World Cup, offers yet another solution in Gakpo’s zone.
How Iraola views Wirtz’s best position could end up defining Gakpo’s role. If the German is seen as a long-term left-sided playmaker, the Dutchman may find himself nudged further inside or further down the pecking order.
Competition – and a door slightly ajar
Gakpo has responded to pressure before. When Luis Diaz arrived, the added competition sharpened his edge rather than dulled it.
This time, though, the stakes feel different. For the first time since he joined from PSV Eindhoven in December 2022 for an initial £35m, a move away is not just theory. Several clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur, are monitoring his situation. Any deal would likely start north of £60m – a sizeable profit and a figure that would force Liverpool to think hard if his role becomes unclear.
For now, his answer is on the pitch.
Against Sweden, in a game where his Liverpool team-mate Alexander Isak drew a blank, Gakpo’s finishing was ruthless. The first goal was all about timing, a back-post arrival and a simple tap-in that still demanded the instinct to be in the right place. The second was pure Gakpo: cutting in from the left, shaping the defender, then drilling a right-footed shot into the corner.
His World Cup numbers back up the eye test. Across the 2022 tournament and this one, he has five goals in seven matches. In total, 23 goals in 52 caps since his debut five years ago underline his status as a genuine international finisher, not a streak player on a hot run.
Pastor, leader, problem to solve
Around the Dutch camp, Gakpo is more than a goalscorer. Those close to the squad talk of a tight, unified group, and he plays a central role in that dynamic.
“Cody is our pastor – he leads the prayers,” said Crysencio Summerville, a line that hints at the authority and calm he carries off the pitch.
Virgil van Dijk, captain for both Netherlands and Liverpool, hardly needed persuading of his team-mate’s quality after the 5-1 win over Sweden.
“He is an outstanding footballer,” Van Dijk said. “He works so hard for the team, he's disciplined and his quality stands out – his crosses, his assists, his goals.”
Those are not the words of a captain ready to see a key forward eased out of his club.
If Gakpo keeps scoring like this on the biggest stage, Liverpool’s resolve to keep him for at least another season will only harden. The club has already seen how difficult life can be for new arrivals: Isak and Wirtz both endured uneven debut campaigns at Anfield, a reminder that big reputations do not guarantee instant impact.
Iraola and Liverpool’s recruitment team now face a delicate equation. They must rebuild an attack that laboured last season, integrate expensive new signings, and still leave room for a player whose international form insists he belongs at the heart of any project.
Somewhere in that puzzle sits Cody Gakpo – established, productive, and suddenly not entirely secure. How Liverpool choose to solve that conundrum may say as much about their next era as any signing they make this summer.
