I’m going to hold my hands up here.
I was wrong about Cody Gakpo.
Not completely wrong. I’m not going to pretend I thought he was a terrible footballer.
But last season, there were plenty of times when I watched Gakpo in a Liverpool shirt and thought: Is this really as good as it’s going to get?
I wasn’t convinced.
I wasn’t enjoying watching him as much as I had when he first arrived.
And if Liverpool had sold him this summer, I wouldn’t have been sitting here screaming that it was a disaster.
Well…
I’m bloody glad they didn’t.
I thought Gakpo might have run his course
That’s the honest truth.
Last season frustrated me.
Gakpo looked short of confidence and, at times, he looked like a player who wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to be doing.
He could play on the left.
He could play through the middle.
He could drop deeper.
But I kept waiting for him to really grab a game by the scruff of the neck.
It didn’t happen often enough.
And I wasn’t the only one questioning him.
Gakpo himself has admitted that his previous season wasn’t good enough, which makes my own criticism feel a little less harsh in hindsight.
So when the summer transfer rumours started, I wasn’t exactly devastated by them.
Manchester City were interested.
Liverpool were reportedly willing to consider letting him go.
And there was a genuine possibility that his Liverpool career could have ended.
Then everything changed.
Liverpool decided to keep him.
And I’m very happy they did.
Look at him now
This is what gets me.
Gakpo just looks happier.
More confident.
More aggressive.
More involved.
I don’t mean he’s suddenly turned into Lionel Messi.
But when he gets the ball now, I actually expect something to happen.
That’s a big difference.
He’s taking players on.
He’s carrying the ball further.
He’s getting involved in the build-up.
He’s finding Isak.
He’s creating chances.
And he’s not just standing out wide waiting for somebody else to make something happen.
Iraola clearly likes him too.
And I think we’re starting to see why.
Then I watched the Bournemouth game
The goal tells you a lot.
Isak gets the headlines because he’s the striker and he scored the winner.
But watch what Gakpo does.
He drives forward.
He keeps going.
He gets himself into a dangerous position.
He gets the ball into the box.
And Isak finishes it.
Liverpool’s own match report highlighted Gakpo’s contribution, while The Guardian noted that he has now assisted all four of Isak’s Premier League goals this season.
That isn’t a coincidence anymore.
There is something developing between those two.
And I bloody love it.
Because this is exactly what I wanted to see from Gakpo.
Maybe I was looking at the wrong thing
This is the bit I’ve been thinking about.
Perhaps I was too focused on what Gakpo wasn’t doing.
I wanted goals.
I wanted assists.
I wanted him to dominate games.
But there is more to his game than that.
He’s becoming one of the players who makes things happen.
And sometimes you don’t appreciate that until the player starts doing it consistently.
Liverpool’s attack is still nowhere near perfect.
Let’s not kid ourselves.
But Gakpo is making it better.
And that’s something I didn’t expect to be saying quite this early in the season.
Then Manchester City came calling
This makes the whole thing even more interesting.
Imagine if Liverpool had sold him.
Seriously.
Imagine watching Gakpo start the season like this in a Manchester City shirt.
I’d have been absolutely sick.
Thankfully, Liverpool decided to keep him.
And now I’m looking at Gakpo and thinking:
Thank God.
Sometimes you get lucky.
Sometimes you make the right decision after nearly making the wrong one.
Liverpool kept him.
And I think they’re going to be very glad they did.
I also think Iraola deserves credit
One thing I don’t want to do is make this all about Gakpo suddenly finding his old self.
The manager deserves some credit here.
Iraola has changed the way Liverpool want to attack.
There’s more movement.
There’s more intensity.
There’s more responsibility on the forwards to be aggressive.
And Gakpo seems to suit it.
He’s also developing an understanding with Isak and Wirtz.
That’s going to take time.
Liverpool have thrown a lot of new attacking pieces together and expected them to immediately click.
Football doesn’t work like that.
Sometimes you have to play together.
Sometimes you have to make mistakes together.
Sometimes you need a few games before you instinctively know where your teammate is going to be.
We’re starting to see that with Gakpo.
And then he got injured with Holland
This is the bit that really annoys me.
Just as Gakpo was starting to build some real momentum with Liverpool, he picked up an ankle injury playing for the Netherlands against Serbia.
He was forced off after just over 15 minutes and subsequently withdrew from the Dutch squad, returning to Liverpool for further assessment.
It’s such a pity.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe it when I saw him go off.
After everything we’ve been talking about with Gakpo, after the way he’s started this season and after finally looking like one of Liverpool’s most important attacking players, the last thing he needed was another interruption.
Hopefully it’s nothing serious and he’s back quickly.
Because I want to see where this goes.
I want to see Gakpo continue building that relationship with Isak.
I want to see him playing with Wirtz.
I want to see what he can do when Liverpool’s attack finally starts clicking properly.
He’s earned that opportunity.
So yes, I’ll admit it
I was wrong.
I thought Gakpo might eventually become one of those Liverpool players where you remember the good moments but wonder whether it was time for both sides to move on.
Instead, I’m now looking at him thinking he could be one of the most important players in Iraola’s Liverpool team.
That’s a pretty big change.
And I’m delighted about it.
Because I don’t want to be right about Liverpool players failing.
I want to be wrong.
Every single time.
If Gakpo scores 20 goals, creates another load of chances and helps Liverpool win trophies, I’ll happily come back to this article and laugh at myself.
That’s football.
We watch.
We react.
We get things wrong.
And sometimes, thankfully, the player gives us a very good reason to change our minds.
Cody Gakpo has done exactly that with me.
I was wrong about him.
And I’m absolutely delighted I was.
Now I just hope that ankle injury doesn’t keep him out for too long.
Because I’m not ready to stop watching this version of Cody Gakpo yet.
By Jamie (The Kopite View)
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