Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo withdraws from the national team squad due to illness

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo was among the players in the Netherlands squad to withdraw their name due to illness.

Along with Gakpo, Sven Botman, Matthijs de Ligt, Joey Veerman and Bart Verbruggen had to leave the training camp due to the same issue.

The Dutch play France in their opening game of the Euro 2024 qualifiers on Friday, before entertaining Gibraltar on Monday.

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo withdraws from the national team squad due to illness. — Cody Gakpo withdraws from the Netherlands squad due to illness. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

It remains to be seen what the extent of illness is like, and whether Gakpo and co. would miss the second game and come back to their respective clubs later than scheduled.

After a slow start to life at Liverpool following his January arrival from PSV Eindhoven, the 23-year-old came into his own with stellar performances against Everton, Newcastle United and Manchester United.

He played as an attacking number eight in the second leg of the Champions League tie against Real Madrid and did well there despite the defeat.

With Roberto Firmino set to leave in the summer, Gakpo is set to take over the false nine role in the team. He will have the pace and finishing power of Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, and Diogo Jota on either flank. Luis Diaz isn’t far away from being available for matchday squads as well.

Now, we all know false nine is one of the important positions in a Jurgen Klopp system for the team to work well. So, the Dutchman has a major responsibility on his hands in the coming weeks, months and hopefully years.

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Let’s hope that the illness he has picked is not serious enough to derail his comeback to Liverpool at the end of this month. We need him fit and firing for the crunch part of the season coming up.