Cody Gakpo has shown glimpses of quality in his short time at Liverpool but has failed to score since joining the club in late December. The Dutchman was purchased from PSV Eindhoven for a fee that may amount to a total of £45 million.
With Darwin Nunez’s arrival in the summer and subsequent period of adjustment to English football, some have questioned the thinking behind Liverpool signing another striker that will require a similar adaptation period to the Premier League in the same season.
Jamie Carragher’s piece in The Telegraph discusses the Cody Gakpo signing. Carragher makes the point that Liverpool’s decision to invest in another attacker instead of a midfielder may cost them dearly this season.
Carragher writes;
“Since the summer of 2022, Liverpool have committed £180 million on four attackers in Luis Díaz, Fabio Carvalho, Darwin Núñez and Cody Gakpo. Liverpool’s owners did not fail to invest. They failed to invest in a midfielder. Now they need a new midfield.”
The Liverpool legend then points towards Gakpo’s profile as a player and how he differs from usual Jurgen Klopp signings.
“I am baffled watching Gakpo’s early performances. Gakpo is not a typical Klopp signing, lacking lightning pace and the capacity to lead a high press. Why commit up to £45 million on someone who will be on the bench when Díaz and Diogo Jota are fit? Especially when another area of the team needed strengthening?”
Carragher makes the compelling argument that Liverpool did not need to invest in a striker while midst of a midfield crisis. Pundits and supporters have pointed towards Liverpool’s lack of physicality and dynamism in midfield as a major reason for the team’s troubles this season.
Liverpool’s attack have not been setting the world alight this season but Jurgen Klopp has no shortage of attacking bodies. Injuries, however, to Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Roberto Firmino have left the team quite reliant on Salah, Gakpo and Nunez for goals.
