Cody Gakpo | OFFICIAL: Liverpool player

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MarcianoVink

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I could be wrong on the exact number, but iirc he was relatively cheap last summer. Its different now.
Noop, Gakpo had fantastic numbers last season (way better then Antony) and PSV always made clear Gakpo will only leave for record-breaking transfer fee (which is currently held bij Lozano; 45 mln)
 

BenitoSTARR

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Other than those very nice corners and the goal, he's like VDB on that SS role. But he's on unfamiliar role, so need to see more of him.
Yeah other than being a consistent set piece threat and scoring the match winner despite playing in an unfamiliar role he’s no good.

Forget the fact he’s the most prolific forward in Europe.
 

bosnian_red

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Think he's a good player, potentially very good, who we have absolutely 0 need for as he's not a striker
 

Cathy Ferguson

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Alexander Isak is twice the player. Should have bought him when he was available. Neither are good target players though.
 

BuzzKillington

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He's like Thomas Muller, excels at nothing and looks stiff yet pops in with important contributions. Clever footballer.
I feel like this description could have been lifted from the Donny thread prior to us signing him. I also imagine Gakpo career at United will follow a similar trajectory to Donny’s too.



He looks ok, but he’s definitely padding his numbers in a shit league and is not United class. Certainly not as a centre forward for a team with CL ambitions. We already have a number of fair to middling left forwards, not sure we need a Dutch version of one. I really hope we duck this one.
 

Trex

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I wonder how many goals Rashford would score in place of Gakpo at PSV. A shit tonne I reckon!!
 

SAF is the GOAT

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The Caf remember this, right ?

He said: “I was close to leaving, I spoke to Erik ten Hag a few times at Manchester United.

“In the end the deal didn’t go through, which was a shame, for me and my development, and because Manchester United is one of the biggest clubs in the world, but also for PSV, because to transfer a player to Manchester United is a good thing for the club.

“It ended about a week before the end of the transfer window and in that week I had to decide if I would go to Leeds or Southampton. In the end I stayed, but it was a stressful period.”
If Erik wants this guy(although I don't know how and where he's going to use him) - I trust him
 

InfiniteBoredom

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If I’m being completely honest, Depay looked twice the player in his cameos during 2014 WC to the Gakpo we saw yesterday.

If EtH really wants him, sure, but since we withdrew our interest as soon as the Antony deal was wrapped up, he probably wasn’t that high on the list.
 

RedRonaldo

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The Caf remember this, right ?



If Erik wants this guy(although I don't know how and where he's going to use him) - I trust him
I am sure he has considered him before we signed Antony. Who knows he might be thinking playing Gakpo on the left and moving Rashford to the right?

But we now have in form Rashford there on our left side, and brilliant kid in Garnacho over there too, not to mention Antony on our right. I am not sure if he still wants Gakpo there.
 

Messier1994

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At the same time, the fact that a kid can play fairly well at LW, AMC and RW — doesn’t mean that he can’t (also) play fairly well as a striker.

To some extent, working those CBs like say a Harry Kane can do, requires experience, ‘practice’. Whatever. He is of course not a world class striker after only briefly playing there according to the reports (but not much at all the last 2 years).

But I don’t know. He is a very smart player. His speed isn’t bad at all. He is good in the air. He is really good at timing his runs behind the Ds. His link up plays are good.

I leave it to ETH to decide if he can play striker, but to some extent it seems like people don’t want him because they see him doing well at LW. Period. That doesn’t exclude the possibility that he also could do well as a striker.

Lastly, while stats are great, he certainly wouldn’t be a ‘savior’. But he has potential. How good is his conditioning? Can he pack on some more muscles and explosiveness? That could put him over the top.
 

Himannv

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Yeah other than being a consistent set piece threat and scoring the match winner despite playing in an unfamiliar role he’s no good.

Forget the fact he’s the most prolific forward in Europe.
Not sure why you’re defensive. He mentioned some good things about the performance and acknowledged it was in an unfamiliar role and that he needs to watch more to form a better opinion. That’s fair for someone not watching him week in week out.
 

Isotope

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Not sure why you’re defensive. He mentioned some good things about the performance and acknowledged it was in an unfamiliar role and that he needs to watch more to form a better opinion. That’s fair for someone not watching him week in week out.
Yeah. Tbf, i should've mentioned that i was only commenting on his last game. It seemed like he's having hard time to impose himself in the game, and mostly just here and there.

Whoscored has him with only 11 passes at 64% rate. That's closer to Rashford's territory in Fulham's game. He did have 13 crosses with 4 succeed (probably including corners?).
 

Telsim

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The Caf: We need goals and creativity up front.

Gakpo: Has scored and created the most across Europe.

The Caf: Noo, we don't need him, we need this and this guy.

I'm so glad this place isn't deciding the targets.
 

MadMike

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The Caf: We need goals and creativity up front.

Gakpo: Has scored and created the most across Europe.

The Caf: Noo, we don't need him, we need this and this guy.

I'm so glad this place isn't deciding the targets.
He doesn't play up front. He plays off the left wing, where we're stacked. His high stats are in the Dutch League and Europa League, which don't exactly carry a hallmark for high quality. Sancho was tearing it up in the Bundesliga and now look at him. Clearly, looking at stats alone isn't a good indication of his future performances here. The chances he'd replicate that sort of form at the highest level (UCL, EPL) are quite slim and indeed he was quite underwhelming in the UCL qualifiers.

If his stats were at least coming from a striker position, where we have an opening, there would be far fewer questions and objections to this transfer.

It's really, really not that hard to comprehend all of this and do a more in-depth, objective analysis than "hE sCoReS gOaLs!!!"
 
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MadMike

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I wonder how many goals Rashford would score in place of Gakpo at PSV. A shit tonne I reckon!!
Almost certainly. Sancho had 40 g&a from 44 games in the 19/20 season and 36 g&a from 38 games in the next one. And those were in the Bundesliga and the UCL, not the Eredivisie and the UEL. And yet Sancho struggles to make half the impact Rashford makes when both played at their preferred position on the left wing.

But according to some we should sign the shining star of the Eredivisie without any critical thinking about what's his best position or whether he would be any better than our current options there.
 

BenitoSTARR

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He doesn't play up front. He plays off the left wing, where we're stacked. His high stats are in the Dutch League and Europa League, which don't exactly carry a hallmark for high quality. Sancho was tearing it up in the Bundesliga and now look at him. Clearly, looking at stats alone isn't a good indication of his future performances here. The chances he'd replicate that sort of form at the highest level (UCL, EPL) are quite slim and indeed he was quite underwhelming in the UCL qualifiers.

If his stats were at least coming from a striker position, where we have an opening, there would be far fewer questions and objections to this transfer.

It's really, really not that hard to comprehend all of this and do a more in-depth, objective analysis than "hE sCoReS gOaLs!!!"
I disagree slightly here as the consistency and high level of performance (the best G/A per 90 rate of any forward in Eredivise history this season so far) is exceptional.

Gakpo also has far more of the physical qualities needed that Sancho doesn’t. He’s a really good technical and physical player.

I have no issue people not wanting to sign him because they are worried he’s not a ready made striker I get that. But he absolutely could convert to one as he has all the skill set needed. I say this very loosely but his profile as a wide goalscoring forward isn’t too disimilar to Ronaldo/Henry etc.
 

MadMike

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I disagree slightly here as the consistency and high level of performance (the best G/A per 90 rate of any forward in Eredivise history this season so far) is exceptional.
I have to disagree as well. As you say, he has the highest stats in the Europe for this season so far. This high level of consistency you talk about is from August to start of November. Let's calm down a bit.

Also I don't find it that exceptional as a statistic given the context. Memphis Depay had 44 goal and assists from 40 games in Ligue 1, two seasons ago. But he couldn't crack it here and he's now warming the bench at Barca. Where you do it, really matters. Like, a lot. The differences are brutal.

Gakpo also has far more of the physical qualities needed that Sancho doesn’t. He’s a really good technical and physical player.
Sancho is also supposed to be technically really good.

Anyway, Gakpo is indeed bigger, but I don't see any explosive pace. And as I've said in other posts, when you play upfront you have to offer something else. Be it hold-up play, or movement in the box, or pace to run on the shoulder of defenders. Shooting and link-up alone won't cut it. Players with primarily shooting and link-up play next to or behind the striker. Which is why I reckon Gakpo has played mostly as winger rather than striker, despite his large size.

I have no issue people not wanting to sign him because they are worried he’s not a ready made striker I get that. But he absolutely could convert to one as he has all the skill set needed. I say this very loosely but his profile as a wide goalscoring forward isn’t too disimilar to Ronaldo/Henry etc.
He's very dissimilar to Henry and Ronaldo on the account of them both being seriously rapid and Gakpo not. Henry also had very underrated back-to-goal and hold-up play. He was lethal with his back to the goal.

Players jumping from Dutch to English football very often struggle to perform at the level they did before. Add to that the complexity of playing in a new position and you've created a very difficult situation for a young player. The chances of Gakpo performing well as a striker for us in the short term are realistically very small. The chances of performing at anywhere near the same level as PSV, close to zero.
 

Mainoldo

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Technically sound. I reckon ETH could make a real link up player out of him. Giroud with pace.
 

NoPace

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I have no idea if us signing him would mean he's being converted to being a 9 (he's tall and had the kind of gutsy header yesterday that Martial and Rashford don't seem up for enough, but his crossing from the left wing seems like one of his better attributes) or if it means Sancho would be sold in the summer for the same price as Gapko, and we'd save on wages.
 

Telsim

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Hopefully, the Netherlands get eliminated early on, so we can get this one done promptly.
 

lenny_1248

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People want him just for the sake of it. A shiny new toy with the most "goal involvements".
He's just not needed here.
 
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