Cody Gakpo: Balancing Roles Between Liverpool and Netherlands

Cody Gakpo had just finished dismantling Sweden when the question landed, sharp and unavoidable.

How does his role for the Netherlands compare with the one he has at Liverpool?

“A good question. Obviously it’s a little bit different,” he replied. Then came the telling line. “It’s different where the coach wants me to be, the freedom that I have.” He stopped himself there, but the pause said enough.

At a time when his country leans heavily on him, his club is busy crowding his favourite patch of grass.

A left side getting crowded

Gakpo’s two goals against Sweden arrived in the same week Liverpool moved decisively in the market for wide forwards. Victor Munoz has joined from Osasuna for £34.5m, another left-sided winger stepping into Anfield’s rotation. Liverpool have also pushed forward with plans to pay a package of £86m to RB Leipzig for Yan Diomande, the highly rated 19-year-old who can operate on either flank.

Both can play in the zone Gakpo loves most: off the left, drifting in to finish. Both arrive just as his Liverpool trajectory has levelled off.

So the obvious question hangs over Anfield. What does this all mean for a 27-year-old who, not long ago, looked like a cornerstone of the attack?

From title spearhead to tactical puzzle

Under Arne Slot in the 2024-25 title-winning season, Gakpo looked every inch the modern Liverpool forward. Eighteen goals, seven assists, 49 games. A consistent presence, a reliable finisher, and a player whose movement knitted attacks together. That form earned him a long-term contract last summer, a deal he was delighted to sign.

Then came last season.

He played more matches but ended with nine goals and six assists. The dip mirrored a broader malaise. Liverpool laboured, too many of their attackers short of their best, and Gakpo was not spared. He will know those numbers are not enough for a player of his status in a side that expects to challenge for everything.

He still prefers the left, but 2025-26 exposed a fault line. His partnership with Milos Kerkez never fully clicked early on, especially when it came to exploiting the Hungarian’s overlapping runs. The timing wasn’t quite right, the angles not consistently sharp enough.

The understanding did improve as the season went on. Now Kerkez is back under Andoni Iraola, his old Bournemouth manager, and Liverpool expect the left-back to accelerate his development. A more dynamic, confident Kerkez could transform that flank.

If that happens, it could transform Gakpo.

A proven scorer with a shifting brief

Strip away the noise and the numbers still speak strongly for him. Fifty goals in 180 appearances for Liverpool. Only one Dutchman has reached that half-century at Anfield before him: Dirk Kuyt. When fit, Gakpo has usually been first choice, trusted in big games and big moments.

Inside the club, they still view him as a proven Premier League attacker, someone who can lead the line or work from the left, and crucially, someone who can adapt. With Hugo Ekitike potentially sidelined until 2027 with a ruptured Achilles, that versatility in central areas suddenly matters even more to Iraola.

Yet the shape of Liverpool’s attack is changing.

Mohamed Salah has gone. At least one more forward is expected to arrive this summer, and the pursuit of Diomande is gathering pace. Talented teenager Rio Ngumoha is being prepared for a bigger role. Florian Wirtz, who often drifted in from the left last season, is doing the same job for Germany at this World Cup.

How Iraola chooses to use Wirtz may be the hinge on which Gakpo’s Liverpool future swings. If Wirtz becomes the preferred left-sided creator, Gakpo’s path narrows. If Wirtz moves inside, the Dutchman’s route back to his favoured role opens again.

Competition has never frightened him. When Luis Diaz arrived, Gakpo responded. A deeper, more ruthless attacking unit could bring out the same edge now.

Interest circling and a price on his head

For the first time since he walked through the doors in December 2022, a departure is no longer unthinkable. Several clubs are monitoring his situation, with Tottenham Hotspur among those keeping a close watch.

Any deal would not come cheap. Liverpool would expect upwards of £60m, a substantial profit on the initial £35m they paid PSV Eindhoven after the 2022 World Cup. In a market starved of proven scorers at the highest level, that fee reflects both his output and his age profile.

And yet, every time the speculation gathers pace, Gakpo finds a way to remind everyone why Liverpool signed him in the first place.

World Cup stage, familiar statement

Against Sweden, he did it again.

The first goal was simple in appearance but ruthless in execution: a back-post arrival, a striker’s instinct, a finish that looked inevitable the moment he ghosted into space. The second was pure Gakpo. Starting wide on the left, he drove infield, opened his body and drilled a right-footed shot home with that familiar, clinical swing.

While club team-mate Alexander Isak toiled without a goal, Gakpo seized the stage.

His World Cup record now stands at five goals in seven games across the 2022 and current tournaments. Stretch the lens to his whole international career and it reads 23 goals in 52 caps since his debut five years ago. Those are elite numbers for a wide forward. They underline why his name sits near the top of opposition scouting reports.

Inside the Dutch camp, his influence extends beyond the pitch. He plays a central role in the squad’s spiritual life, helping fellow Christians and leading team prayers. “Cody is our pastor – he leads the prayers,” Crysencio Summerville said.

On the field, Virgil van Dijk has long been convinced. After the 5-1 win over Sweden, the Netherlands and Liverpool captain was emphatic: “He is an outstanding footballer. He works so hard for the team, he’s disciplined and his quality stands out – his crosses, his assists, his goals.”

Those words carry weight at Anfield.

The conundrum Iraola must solve

For now, Gakpo’s focus is locked on the World Cup and the Netherlands’ campaign. The noise around his club future stays outside the camp, at least publicly.

Back on Merseyside, the picture is more complicated. Liverpool’s recruitment team, alongside Iraola, is reshaping an attack that misfired too often last season. They know the risks of wholesale change. Isak and Wirtz both felt the strain of their debut campaigns at Anfield, a reminder that adaptation can be brutal even for elite talents.

That reality strengthens the case for keeping a player who already knows the demands, the system, the scrutiny. A forward who has scored 50 times for the club and still has room to grow under a new coach.

Yet the squad cannot stand still. New signings will arrive. Roles will be redefined. Someone will be squeezed.

Gakpo’s performances in this World Cup may push Liverpool towards one of two doors: double down on him as a central figure in Iraola’s blueprint, or cash in at the peak of his value and lean fully into a new era of wide forwards.

Either way, the Dutchman is forcing the issue. And as the summer unfolds, the Gakpo question will say as much about Liverpool’s ambition as it does about the player himself.