“The right move”- Gakpo reveals the role Van Dijk played in Liverpool transfer

Cody Gakpo talks about signing for Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk’s influence on his decision

Liverpool are good deal hijackers, and it came to fruition again when the Reds beat their bitter rivals Manchester United to the signature of the Netherlands’ World Cup star Cody Gakpo. The official announcement from the club came on the night of 28th December and the club now have another fearsome attacker in their ranks.

The former PSV Eindhoven ace had a fantastic World Cup under Louis van Gaal and scored thrice in five appearances in Qatar. Moreover, with 13 goals and 17 assists across all competitions for the club this season in 24 appearances, Gakpo has the most goal contributions for any player across the top five European leagues.

It obviously came as a shock as the Reds were very low-key in carrying out this transfer. But there is absolutely no doubt that Gakpo is a quality addition, and is another goal scoring threat upfront.

Gakpo and Liverpool

Following long-term injuries to both players who could play left-wing in Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota, the Reds needed the services of a player who could play on that flank. Speaking on current form, there are few attackers better than Gakpo. Here is what he told the club’s official website on joining the club:

“I think this is a great club for me to come in and try to show what I can [do] and try to help the team to achieve more beautiful moments that they already did in the past years.”

Gakpo can provide competition to a few players for a spot in the Starting XI as well, and with his addition, most attackers at the Reds are under the age of 25 which is very promising given how there were a lot of complaints about an aging squad. However, that doesn’t take anything away from the fact that Liverpool certainly need midfield signings, if possible in January, and in the summer for sure.

Subject to a work permit, the player could feature as early as 2nd January against Brentford. However, there is no need to rush any matters as the player has not trained since two weeks after the World Cup and would need reintegration of sorts.

The factor of his national team captain Virgil van Dijk also comes into play here as Big Virg would have been an influencing factor on Gakpo signing for the Reds. Gakpo confirms agent VVD’s decision and here is what he spoke

“What he (Virgil) told me was that this is the right move for me to make and for me to develop and to become a better player, that the club is a really big and massive club but also like a real family”

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A fit Liverpool squad would have Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo as available attackers. Throw potentially Jude Bellingham and Enzo Fernandez in the mix and the Reds have a squad for the future on their hands.