Cody Gakpo's Dual Role: Netherlands Star vs Liverpool Forward
Cody Gakpo walked off the pitch with the match ball under his arm and a question hanging in the air.
Two goals for the Netherlands against Sweden, another big-stage reminder of his talent, and then the inevitable comparison: country versus club. Same player, very different roles.
“A good question. Obviously it's a little bit different,” he said when asked how his job for the national team contrasts with life at Liverpool. “It's different where the coach wants me to be, the freedom that I have.” Then he checked himself, cut the answer short, and moved on.
That pause said plenty.
A left-winger as Liverpool buy left-wingers
Gakpo’s World Cup flourish has arrived in a week when Liverpool have moved aggressively in the market for players who operate in his zone of the pitch.
Victor Munoz has arrived from Osasuna for £34.5m, another winger who prefers the left. Liverpool have also pushed forward with plans to pay a package of £86m to RB Leipzig for 19-year-old Yan Diomande, a highly rated forward comfortable on both flanks.
Two signings, both able to step into Gakpo’s favourite territory. The message is not subtle. Competition is coming, and it is expensive.
So where does that leave a 27-year-old who, not long ago, looked like a pillar of Liverpool’s future?
From title spearhead to searching for rhythm
Under Arne Slot in the 2024-25 title-winning campaign, Gakpo looked every inch the modern Liverpool forward. He delivered 18 goals and seven assists in 49 games in all competitions, numbers that justified the long-term deal he signed last summer and underlined why he had been so keen to commit.
The season just gone told a different story. Three more matches, but a drop to nine goals and six assists. Liverpool as a whole laboured, and he was far from the only player to dip, yet he will know those figures are not enough for a first-choice attacker at Anfield.
His preference is clear: he wants that left channel. But 2025-26 exposed a fault line in his game at club level. His link-up with Milos Kerkez on that flank often felt disjointed, especially when it came to reading and exploiting the Hungarian full-back’s overlapping runs.
The understanding did grow as the year wore on. Now Kerkez is reunited with his former Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola, who has arrived to reshape Liverpool’s attack. The expectation is that Kerkez will accelerate his development under a coach who already knows how to use him.
If that happens, it could unlock Gakpo again. Or squeeze him further.
A proven scorer with a question mark over his role
Strip away the noise and the numbers are still strong. Fifty goals in 180 appearances make Gakpo only the second Dutchman, after Dirk Kuyt, to reach a half-century for Liverpool. When fit, he has usually been first choice.
Inside the club, he is still seen as a proven Premier League attacker who can be used in several roles. That flexibility matters even more with Hugo Ekitike potentially sidelined until 2027 after a ruptured Achilles. Gakpo’s ability to operate centrally as well as off the left gives Iraola options as he rebuilds without Mohamed Salah.
Salah’s departure guarantees at least one more attacking signing this summer. The chase for Diomande is gathering pace. Teenager Rio Ngumoha is tipped to play a bigger part. Florian Wirtz, who occasionally featured from the left last season and is currently doing so for Germany at the World Cup, adds another layer to the puzzle.
How Iraola chooses to use Wirtz may end up defining Gakpo’s future. If the German becomes the preferred option drifting in from the left, the Dutchman could be nudged inside, rotated more often, or pushed towards the exit.
Competition has brought the best out of him before. When Luis Diaz was at his peak, Gakpo often responded with sharper, more decisive performances. But this time the stakes feel higher.
A £60m decision waiting in the background
For the first time since his arrival from PSV Eindhoven in December 2022, a departure is no longer unthinkable. Several clubs are monitoring the situation, with Tottenham Hotspur among those keeping a close eye.
Any deal would not come cheap. Liverpool would likely demand upwards of £60m, a sizeable profit on the initial £35m they paid after the 2022 World Cup. In a market where proven forwards are scarce, that figure would not scare everyone off.
His display against Sweden showed why. The first goal was about timing and instinct, arriving at the back post for a simple finish. The second was pure Gakpo: starting wide on the left, cutting inside, then drilling a right-footed shot past the goalkeeper. Direct, decisive, ruthless.
In a game where club team-mate Alexander Isak failed to score, Gakpo’s composure stood out. It was a reminder to anyone watching at Anfield, or elsewhere, of what he brings when used in his sweet spot.
Leader for his country, uncertainty at his club
Around the Dutch camp, those close to the squad talk about a tight, unified group. After a difficult domestic season, Gakpo has opened this World Cup with the conviction of a player who has parked his club concerns at the door.
The numbers back it up. Across the 2022 and current tournaments, he has five goals in seven World Cup matches. In total, he has 23 goals from 52 caps since his debut five years ago – a strike rate that underlines his status as one of his country’s key figures.
His influence is not limited to the pitch. Within the national team, he plays an important off-field role, particularly among the Christians in the squad.
“Cody is our pastor – he leads the prayers,” said Crysencio Summerville.
On the grass, he has no doubters in high places. Netherlands and Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was emphatic after the 5-1 win over Sweden.
“He is an outstanding footballer,” Van Dijk said. “He works so hard for the team, he's disciplined and his quality stands out – his crosses, his assists, his goals.”
Those performances and that endorsement will not go unnoticed on Merseyside. Every sharp turn inside, every clean strike, strengthens the case to keep him at Anfield for at least another season.
Liverpool only need to look at the relative struggles of Isak and Wirtz in their debut campaigns to remember how unforgiving the transition to this team can be. Gakpo has already cleared that hurdle.
Yet as Iraola and the club’s recruitment team set about reshaping an attack that faltered last year, they must decide whether Gakpo is the man to build around on the left, the flexible piece who knits everything together, or the asset to cash in on at peak value.
For now, he is leading the line for his country and leading the prayers in the dressing room. When the World Cup ends, the real judgment begins.
