Cody Gakpo's Role for Netherlands vs Liverpool: A Comparison
Cody Gakpo walked off the pitch in Dutch orange with two more World Cup goals to his name and a question hanging in the air.
How does his role for the Netherlands compare with life at Liverpool?
“A good question. Obviously it's a little bit different,” he replied. “It's different where the coach wants me to be, the freedom that I have.” Then he stopped himself. No more elaboration. No unnecessary noise.
The silence said enough.
A star for country, a puzzle for club
Gakpo’s numbers for the national team are emphatic. Five goals in seven World Cup games across two tournaments. Twenty-three in 52 caps since his debut five years ago. Against Sweden, he struck twice in a 5-1 win: first a back-post tap-in, then the trademark move – cutting in from the left and drilling in with his right.
While Alexander Isak, his Liverpool team-mate, laboured without scoring, Gakpo looked every inch a leading tournament forward.
Inside the Dutch camp, he is more than that. He is a figure of influence. Crysencio Summerville calls him “our pastor” – the player who leads prayers and anchors a tight-knit squad off the pitch. On it, Virgil van Dijk needs no convincing.
“He is an outstanding footballer,” the Netherlands and Liverpool captain said. “He works so hard for the team, he's disciplined and his quality stands out – his crosses, his assists, his goals.”
The evidence is stacking up in orange. The questions grow louder in red.
From title talisman to tactical question
Under Arne Slot in 2024-25, Gakpo looked like a cornerstone of Liverpool’s new era. Eighteen goals, seven assists, 49 games in all competitions. A Premier League title. A long-term contract signed last summer, greeted with genuine enthusiasm on all sides.
Then came last season.
He played three more matches. Scored nine. Set up six. Respectable numbers on paper, but in a campaign where Liverpool’s attack often stuttered, they felt like a drop-off. He was far from alone in underperforming, yet he will know those returns are not enough if he wants to remain undisputed first choice in a forward line being rebuilt on the fly.
Gakpo prefers the left. That much is clear. But 2025-26 exposed a flaw: his understanding with Milos Kerkez down that flank needed work, especially when it came to exploiting the Hungarian full-back’s aggressive overlapping runs. The timing, the angles, the instinctive combinations – all a touch off.
The relationship did improve as the season wore on. Now Kerkez is back under his old Bournemouth manager, Andoni Iraola, and Liverpool expect the left-back’s development to accelerate. If that happens, it could transform that flank.
And it could be very good news for Gakpo.
New faces, old questions
Just as Gakpo was reminding the world of his quality on the biggest international stage, Liverpool were busy reshaping the very area of the pitch he calls home.
Victor Munoz has arrived from Osasuna for £34.5m, another winger whose natural habitat is the left. The club have also pushed forward with a proposed £86m package for RB Leipzig’s 19-year-old Yan Diomande, a highly rated forward comfortable on both wings.
Layer that on top of what is already in place. Florian Wirtz, who spent spells off the left last season at Anfield and is doing the same for Germany at this World Cup. Talented teenager Rio Ngumoha, earmarked for a bigger role. The expected signing of at least one more attacker after Mohamed Salah’s departure. A crowded picture begins to form.
So where does that leave Gakpo?
Liverpool still see him as a proven Premier League attacker, someone who can “function in different ways” across the frontline. With Hugo Ekitike potentially sidelined until 2027 with a ruptured Achilles, Gakpo’s ability to play centrally gives Iraola valuable flexibility.
The key may be how the new head coach views Wirtz. If the German is locked into a central role, Gakpo’s path on the left opens up. If Wirtz is seen as the primary option cutting in from that flank, the Dutchman starts to look more like a movable piece.
Competition or crossroads?
Gakpo has lived this story before. When Luis Diaz arrived at Liverpool, the added competition sharpened him. He responded. He thrived.
This time, the stakes feel higher.
For the first time since he walked through the doors at Anfield in December 2022, a departure cannot be ruled out. Several clubs are monitoring the situation, with Tottenham Hotspur among those keeping a close eye. Any deal would start north of £60m – a substantial profit on the initial £35m Liverpool paid PSV Eindhoven after the 2022 World Cup.
The market would not be short of suitors. A 27-year-old forward with 50 goals in 180 Liverpool appearances – only Dirk Kuyt has reached a half-century among Dutchmen at the club – and a standout World Cup record does not come around often.
Yet Liverpool know the other side of the equation. They have seen how new signings can struggle to adapt. Isak and Wirtz both endured mixed debut seasons at Anfield. Talent is one thing; fitting into the pressing triggers, positional demands and emotional weight of the shirt is another.
Gakpo has already done the hard part. He has lived it, scored in it, won in it.
Iraola’s call
Right now, Gakpo’s attention is fixed on the Netherlands. On goals, on leadership, on the next step in a World Cup that has started superbly for him. At Liverpool, the picture is less settled.
Iraola and the club’s recruitment team are tearing into the details of an attack that laboured too often last season. They have money to spend, holes to fill and a system to refine. Somewhere in the middle of that sits Cody Gakpo – proven, versatile, entering his prime, but suddenly surrounded by fresh competition and tactical questions.
He is not a problem to solve. He is a decision to make.
As the summer unfolds and Liverpool’s new-look front line takes shape, the Gakpo conundrum may prove the clearest window into what Iraola really wants this team to be.
