Cody Gakpo | OFFICIAL: Liverpool player

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Andycoleno9

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Interresting to see some Man Utd supporters still doubt Gakpo’s qualities whilst being over the moon with Antony.

Those who have their doubts due to the left wing position being packed i can understand. Those who can not see anything special in Gakpo probably choose useless tricks and drama over decisive actions.

just can’t understand that…..
You are Psv supporter? How many games this season Gakpo played as no9? That is your answer. Spending 50 mil (or more) on another left winger while having 3 already is something what even City and Psg can't afford.
We need striker. Classic striker
 

bosnian_red

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27,28 is prime for an attacker usually
It's roughly:
18-23 - biggest development years, from youth to physical peak
23-28 - physical peak, slight refinement of some skills/more mental side and decision making
28-33 - physical decline, transition style of play to prolong career

If Gakpo was doing what he's doing now but at 20, it'd be a different story. At 23, seeing how he's playing, I think "good player, probably doesn't have enough to his game for a top team".
 

evil_geko

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You would think we would have big advantage of signing him over other clubs with Ten Hag being here.
 

sullydnl

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Of course that's overkill. Rashford is going to play the vast majority of games as would our new No 9. 8 players for 3 positions.

Martial and Sancho are going to get the hump as it is never mind stickkng in another LW in and removing that option for them.

Garnacho and Elanga would barely play a minute.
Meh. Get rid of Elanga from that list (which I don't think many will have a problem with) and I don't think it's any more stacked than City have been over some recent years.

Players like Sterling, Jesus, Grealish, Foden and Mahrez to name a few have all had to settle for extended stints on the bench at various points, even at times when other players like Gundogan, KDB or Bernardo Silva were getting played in attacking positions ahead of them.

Taking Mahrez for example, he played fewer league minutes for City last season than Alex Telles did for us. And he's played just four more league minutes than Elanga this season. That's a former PL player of the year who would have waltzed into our team. Meanwhile £100m signing Grealish has played fewer league minutes this season than the likes of Malacia and McTominay. Whereas the comparably disappointing Sancho has already had 30% more gametime than him for no good reason other than us not having the same ability to bench players.

Big names on the bench every week is what real depth looks like and the likes of Martial and Sancho are certainly no more deserving of gametime than any of those players. Let them have that Mahrezesque gametime until they actually earn more. It's not like they have bigger clubs than us knocking down the door to make them guaranteed starters.

Even someone like Rashford who you say is a guaranteed starter needs to spend a lot more time on the bench than he has in recent years, where he was massively overplayed. Us relying on him as much as we did was a sign that we were lacking, not something that should keep happening.
 
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MarcianoVink

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You are Psv supporter? How many games this season Gakpo played as no9? That is your answer. Spending 50 mil (or more) on another left winger while having 3 already is something what even City and Psg can't afford.
We need striker. Classic striker
didn’t you read my post? I fully understand people not want him because of his position (left winger) on the pitch. I don’t understand people stating he’s nothing special
 

VP89

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You are Psv supporter? How many games this season Gakpo played as no9? That is your answer. Spending 50 mil (or more) on another left winger while having 3 already is something what even City and Psg can't afford.
We need striker. Classic striker
You didn't read his post did you
 

VP89

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Interresting to see some Man Utd supporters still doubt Gakpo’s qualities whilst being over the moon with Antony.

Those who have their doubts due to the left wing position being packed i can understand. Those who can not see anything special in Gakpo probably choose useless tricks and drama over decisive actions.

just can’t understand that…..
Youl struggle to find many reasonable fans who are "over the moon" with Antony.

I think most of us are relieved to have a right wing outlet as much as we are pleased with Antony as a player.

The problem with Gapko is the position of an unpolished left winger who's good at having a goal flurry is already taken up by Rashford.

What we ideally need is a central figure who is solid with their back to goal and can be a 9.
 

KirkDuyt

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Youl struggle to find many reasonable fans who are "over the moon" with Antony.

I think most of us are relieved to have a right wing outlet as much as we are pleased with Antony as a player.

The problem with Gapko is the position of an unpolished left winger who's good at having a goal flurry is already taken up by Rashford.

What we ideally need is a central figure who is solid with their back to goal and can be a 9.
I personally also think Rashford is better than Gakpo :nervous:
 

MarcianoVink

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Do you think he can be converted to a number 9?
His goal scoring abilities are really, really good, but i’m not convinced he can be converted to an nr 9. Any club that wants to buy him will need to pay 60mln+ to get him. That is way too expensive to gamble on a potential position he might not be suited for.

If Cody is to convert into a nr 9, that will only be successfull by granting him time to learn. And Man Utd is not in a position to do so.
 

Andycoleno9

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didn’t you read my post? I fully understand people not want him because of his position (left winger) on the pitch. I don’t understand people stating he’s nothing special
You didn't read his post did you
Yes i did. And my point is that lots of us think thst he is nothing special for no9 position (which we need and on which, i guess, ETH sees him).
Also, to be fully honest, Sancho and Rashford are better than Gakpo.
 

lysglimt

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Strikers are more than just goal scorers now. 1 in 3 isn't exactly tragic for the other offer the ball stuff he offers too.

Anyway, Villa have hardly been a top class side recently either?

The point is, we have a half fit Martial and Rashford as our striking options. We can't go turning out noses up to decent players.
No it isn't tragic - but if we are going to compete against Liverpool and City - we cant have a striker who scores 1 in 3 when Liverpool have Salah and City have Haaland. And at 27 years old for an price of at least £50 million - just mentioning Watkins seems....odd ? And especially since a goalscorer is what we need.

Of course Toney is out of the picture after his gambling stunt, but he is a really good comparison to Watkins - and he has outscored Watkins at all levels.

Watkins scored 25 goals in 46 matches in his best season in the Championship. And he has scored 27 goals in 86 matches in the P.L
Toney scored 31 goals in 45 matches in his best season in the Championship. And he has scored 22 goals in 47 matches in the P.L

We can always argue if Toney would have been good enough for United, but he is at least 1 level above Watkins
 

mav_9me

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You would sign a 27 year old player who doesn't score goals ? 30 goals in 92 matches for Villa and that's who you want to solve our goalscoring problems ?
I think you missed the fact that I said in Jan. Cuz you are not going to get a proper no.9 in Jan, like say Osihmen or Vlahovic etc.
 

Blood Mage

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Like Sancho and Antony he doesn't exactly have electric pace does he? I'd prefer we went for someone more explosive since we primarily still create our best chances on the counter attack.
 

Smores

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Meh. Get rid of Elanga from that list (which I don't think many will have a problem with) and I don't think it's any more stacked than City have been over some recent years.

Players like Sterling, Jesus, Grealish, Foden and Mahrez to name a few have all had to settle for extended stints on the bench at various points, even at times when other players like Gundogan, KDB or Bernardo Silva were getting played in attacking positions ahead of them.

Taking Mahrez for example, he played fewer league minutes for City last season than Alex Telles did for us. And he's played just four more league minutes than Elanga this season. That's a former PL player of the year who would have waltzed into our team. Meanwhile £100m signing Grealish has played fewer league minutes this season than the likes of Malacia and McTominay. Whereas the comparably disappointing Sancho has already had 30% more gametime than him for no good reason other than us not having the same ability to bench players.

Big names on the bench every week is what real depth looks like and the likes of Martial and Sancho are certainly no more deserving of gametime than any of those players. Let them have that Mahrezesque gametime until they actually earn more. It's not like they have bigger clubs than us knocking down the door to make them guaranteed starters.

Even someone like Rashford who you say is a guaranteed starter needs to spend a lot more time on the bench than he has in recent years, where he was massively overplayed. Us relying on him as much as we did was a sign that we were lacking, not something that should keep happening.
We're not man city. You'll find players are far more eager to hang around on the bench when they're winning trophies left right and centre.

Garnacho has shown enough that we shouldn't be putting unrealistic hurdles in his way. Sancho and Garnacho are Rashford backups and Martial will also play there if we get a new no 9.
 

Andycoleno9

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Like Sancho and Antony he doesn't exactly have electric pace does he? I'd prefer we went for someone more explosive since we primarily still create our best chances on the counter attack.
About Antony's pace; when that myth started? We could have see couple of times this season that guy is quick
 

giorno

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Cue the outrage!!! I bet he’s now considered another world class talent the club have let slip through their fingers now that Liverpool are in the frame?
Well, if the articles that have come out lately are to be believed, not really anymore no. Klopp's calling the shots now, and his first big call was Darwin Nuñez....
 

Remember the geese

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His goal scoring abilities are really, really good, but i’m not convinced he can be converted to an nr 9. Any club that wants to buy him will need to pay 60mln+ to get him. That is way too expensive to gamble on a potential position he might not be suited for.

If Cody is to convert into a nr 9, that will only be successfull by granting him time to learn. And Man Utd is not in a position to do so.
That is disappointing to hear. Sounds like the price is €50m according to reports. If he can't play as a 9, then I don't see the point really. I do think we can give him opportunities as a 9 however, due to Martial's inability to stay fit.
 

El Jefe

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There is Gakpo at home.

We have Rashford, we need to prioritise a proper No.9 rather than another player who is better out wide, particularly on the left.
 

Black Alabaster

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His goal scoring abilities are really, really good, but i’m not convinced he can be converted to an nr 9. Any club that wants to buy him will need to pay 60mln+ to get him. That is way too expensive to gamble on a potential position he might not be suited for.

If Cody is to convert into a nr 9, that will only be successfull by granting him time to learn. And Man Utd is not in a position to do so.
What's the hesitancy on Gakpo's ability to play #9?

From watching him a fair few times now, his game is basically the Left wing Mason Greenwood - Decent pace, decent dribbling but fantastic two footed clean ball striking and just lacking the physical outlet "back to goal" build up play. We saw Greenwood begnning to show that predatory CF movement and basic build up play development in a few games under solskjaers coaching.

Everyone was tipping Greenwood to develop and grow into the #9 role but he was never going to be a brute force target man style, he was basically a few years from Gakpos' current body archetype & for me Ten Hag has shown his player developing abilities already, enough to satisfy that he could make Gakpo a modern give & go get into the box CF that can drift wide too.

It's not like we need to be lumping it in all the time, seems like a interchangable front 3 that can rotate is very useful in a fluid passing system and watching Gakpo so far he seems technically fine outside the box popping it round corners & laying it off so I think people are worrying abit too much about him being able to do the simple stuff with a few weeks of decent coaching. (Mctominay springs to mind)
 
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sullydnl

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Also worth noting (though it's probably obvious) that he's massively outperforming his underlying stats this season. 12 goals from 7.5 xG, 15 assists from 7.5 xA.

Overperformance might be something he's capable of generally given his striking ability but not to that extent. It's a hot streak and you shouldn't base your idea of how productive he'd likely be in the future off that rate of returns.

That said, if he had clocked a more sustainable 8 goals and 8 assists from 19 games it would still be pretty good.
 

Hackman2210

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Could we send van der beek to PSV and have Gakpo? might sweeten the deal and make the whole thing slightly more affordable.
 

Valencia Shin Crosses

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What's the hesitancy on Gakpo's ability to play #9?

From watching him a fair few times now, his game is basically the Left wing Mason Greenwood - Decent pace, decent dribbling but fantastic two footed clean ball striking and just lacking the physical outlet "back to goal" build up play. We saw Greenwood begnning to show that predatory CF movement and basic build up play development in a few games under solskjaers coaching.

Everyone was tipping Greenwood to develop and grow into the #9 role but he was never going to be a brute force target man style, he was basically a few years from Gakpos' current body archetype & for me Ten Hag has shown his player developing abilities already, enough to satisfy that he could make Gakpo a modern give & go get into the box CF that can drift wide too.

It's not like we need to be lumping it in all the time, seems like a interchangable front 3 that can rotate is very useful in a fluid passing system and watching Gakpo so far he seems technically fine outside the box popping it round corners & laying it off so I think people are worrying abit too much about him being able to do the simple stuff with a few weeks of decent coaching. (Mctominay springs to mind)
Comparing Gakpo to Greenwood is quite the stretch. Greenwood was as pure of a striker of the ball as you could find in the game, and was two footed to boot. He was tipped as the next great striker because that was his position throughout the academy ranks, and it came more natural to him.

I think Gakpo could be effective in a similar vein to when Rashford plays at 9, especially if he’s more comfortable than Rashford on his weaker side, but he’s not going to start over Martial when both are fit and I’m not sure he’d start over Rashford either. So we’d be paying a decent sized sum for a rotational piece with no clear path into the starting XI as of now.

If ETH is dead set on him then so be it I’m happy, but I can understand some of the hesitance given the similarities he has with one of our own already.
 

dinostar77

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Van Gaal on Gapko (BBC)

..."Cody is a very young player, he is 23 but looks younger," said boss Louis van Gaal. "He has only been playing with PSV for two, three years and always played from the left.

"He did not want to play in the centre or at 10 but he did have to for me. Now he thinks I am a great head coach.

"Things can change but Cody has everything it takes to become a star. He has a wonderful personality to become a star player because he open minded to anything and everything."...


Lets bear in mind hes been involved in 35 goals in 29 games for club and country this season - 17 goals and 18 assists.

Whats to doubt. A star in the making...
 

MadMike

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Plenty of other clubs will be alerted to him now, that’s what a breakout tournament will do. We won’t get the relatively free run at him we would have done in the summer.
Really though? So before this tournament the clubs that can afford him weren’t scouting the eredivisie and weren’t alerted to its top scorer? I find that hard to believe
 

sullydnl

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Mostly seen people talking about him as a LW or a potential #9, but any thoughts about #10 as his long term position?

If we thought he could deputise for Bruno effectively next season then that would be another route to minutes for him, as well as being something that makes VDB even more redundant and sellable.
 

LordSpud

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Sounds like if we wait until summer for Gakpo then hes our striker signing... not ideal to wait until then either!
 

Black Alabaster

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Comparing Gakpo to Greenwood is quite the stretch. Greenwood was as pure of a striker of the ball as you could find in the game, and was two footed to boot. He was tipped as the next great striker because that was his position throughout the academy ranks, and it came more natural to him.

I think Gakpo could be effective in a similar vein to when Rashford plays at 9, especially if he’s more comfortable than Rashford on his weaker side, but he’s not going to start over Martial when both are fit and I’m not sure he’d start over Rashford either. So we’d be paying a decent sized sum for a rotational piece with no clear path into the starting XI as of now.

If ETH is dead set on him then so be it I’m happy, but I can understand some of the hesitance given the similarities he has with one of our own already.

The rashford comparison I dont really see. Rashford's game so far since the academy has been all about utilizing his great stride & searing pace to get in behind on the last shoulder of a high line or to pull off tricks with good footwork to beat his man 1 on 1 before creating a chance or shot on goal. That being said, even rashford has been showing signs of all-round development at #9 with some of his hold up play and assists recently like for Antony's debut goal!

It doesn't always come natural to players but I dont think people put enough value on the lack of high level coaching that most of our players have endured since they came through or got bought. There is that sense in the last few years of the "united curse" that people turn rubbish eventually coming here and for me it's been the coaching. Now we have Ten Hag who is the first manager with clear philosophy we've had since frankly Van Gaal ( I know, crazy! ) with a progressive footballing ideology that has clear principles and tasks for each position to fulfill. It is so much easier for a player to then slot in, adapt and learn to fulfill those duties in the system when there is coherent structure and clear ideas that actually work. VanGallball, Mourinhoball Oleball/Mckennaball was functional, but not progressive or communicated well enough.

I do agree though for the most part, Gakpo is at the moment primarily Left Winger and we are stacked there already.
No I dont want Garnacho's impressive rise to be hindered whatsoever, top prospect there and gametime will be scant enough as it is.
Are there realistically other attainable striker targets out there that good data-scouting could unearth beyond the maguire-level obvious picks of Toney et al...honestly yes...But I do trust this managers judgement and having obviously watched him develop for years at PSV whilst managing Ajax, if ETH thinks this guy has attributes that can be used and developed in his system at LW RW & ST then im all for it. He's done left foot, right foot and a brave headed goal all from movement into central positions on the world cup stage, he certainly knows where the net is.

And Let's be honest most of us love Tony Martial but the man is injured every single season without fail, won't be suprised if we go for another striker eventually if Martial cant accept a squad role in his new contract.
 
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