Cody Gakpo's Liverpool Future: Competition or Departure?

Cody Gakpo had just torn through Sweden, twice, when the question came. How does this version of him – free, dangerous, decisive in orange – compare with the one Liverpool see in red?

“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.

He didn’t need to say more. His football is doing the talking.

A World Cup reminder – and a Liverpool dilemma

Those two goals for the Netherlands arrived at a delicate moment in Gakpo’s club career. In the same week, Liverpool committed £34.5m to Victor Munoz from Osasuna, another left-sided winger. They are also pushing hard to land Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig in a deal that could reach £86m, a 19-year-old forward who can operate on either flank.

Both, on paper, step straight into Gakpo’s territory.

So the question hangs over Anfield: what does the arrival – or potential arrival – of two players who can occupy his position mean for a 27-year-old who only last summer signed a long-term deal and spoke of his happiness at the club?

On the pitch, his Liverpool story has already had two distinct chapters. Under Arne Slot in the title-winning 2024-25 campaign, Gakpo delivered: 18 goals, seven assists, 49 games, all competitions. He looked like a cornerstone of a new era.

Last season told a different tale. Three more matches, but only nine goals and six assists. The whole team laboured, and he was not the only one to dip, yet he will know those numbers are not enough for a forward of his standing at a club with Liverpool’s ambitions.

Left flank, loose edges

Gakpo’s preference is clear: he wants that left channel. Cutting in, driving at defenders, opening the pitch with his right foot. But the 2025-26 season exposed a fault line – his understanding with Milos Kerkez.

Kerkez, an aggressive, overlapping full-back, offers width and pace. Gakpo often drifted into the same spaces rather than using those overlaps as a weapon. The timing of runs, the angles, the little wall passes down the line – they all needed sharpening.

It did get better as the months rolled on. Their chemistry improved, the patterns became more natural. Now Kerkez is back under Andoni Iraola, his former manager at Bournemouth, and expectations on the Hungary international are rising fast. Iraola knows how to weaponise an attacking full-back. That could transform the entire left side.

And it might be exactly what Gakpo needs.

A proven scorer, a shifting attack

Strip away the noise and the numbers are still strong. Fifty goals in 180 Liverpool appearances. Only one Dutchman has ever reached that half-century for the club before him: Dirk Kuyt. When fit, Gakpo has largely been first choice.

Inside the club, the view remains that he is a proven Premier League attacker, adaptable and intelligent. With Hugo Ekitike facing a long spell out – potentially until 2027 – after rupturing his Achilles, Gakpo’s ability to move inside and play centrally gives Iraola important flexibility as he reshapes an attack that stuttered last season.

Yet the landscape around him is changing fast.

Mohamed Salah has gone. At least one more forward is expected through the door. The chase for Diomande is intensifying. Rio Ngumoha, the teenager many at Kirkby rave about, is expected to take on a bigger role. Florian Wirtz, who often started from the left last season and is doing the same for Germany at this World Cup, adds another layer of complexity.

Where Iraola sees Wirtz long term – as a drifting No 10, an inside forward, or a pure left-sided playmaker – could define Gakpo’s role more than any transfer fee. If Wirtz locks down that left half-space, someone has to move.

Competition or crossroads?

Gakpo has been here before, in a way. When Luis Diaz was at his peak in Liverpool red, the competition seemed to sharpen him. He responded with goals and big-game contributions.

This time, the stakes feel higher. For the first time since arriving from PSV Eindhoven in December 2022 for an initial £35m, a departure is at least on the table. Several clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur, are watching closely. Any deal would start north of £60m – a hefty profit and a serious decision point for Liverpool’s recruitment team.

His display against Sweden showed why this is not a straightforward call. The first goal was all about instinct: arriving unmarked at the back post for a simple tap-in, the kind elite forwards make look easy. The second was pure Gakpo – cutting in from the left, shifting the ball, then drilling a right-footed finish with conviction.

When he pulls on the Netherlands shirt, the numbers are hard to argue with. Five goals in seven World Cup games across two tournaments. Twenty-three goals in 52 caps since his debut five years ago. That is the output of a player who delivers on the international stage, not one still searching for himself.

Influence beyond the touchline

Inside the Dutch camp, Gakpo’s role stretches beyond tactics and goals. He is a central figure in the squad’s off-field life, especially among the group of Christian players.

“Cody is our pastor – he leads the prayers,” Crysencio Summerville said. That influence, that sense of responsibility, bleeds into how he carries himself on the pitch. He plays like someone who knows others are looking to him.

Virgil van Dijk does not need convincing. After the 5-1 dismantling of 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 are not the words of a captain ready to see a team-mate eased out of the door.

The summer question

Liverpool’s hierarchy will be watching every minute he plays in this World Cup. A strong tournament only strengthens their hand – either in keeping him as a central piece of Iraola’s attack or in driving his price into a bracket where a sale becomes hard to refuse.

They do not need reminding how difficult it can be for new arrivals to adapt. Isak and Wirtz both felt that in their first seasons at Anfield, their talent obvious but their impact uneven. Gakpo has already come through that settling period. He knows the league, the club, the pressure.

For now, his eyes are on the Netherlands, not on Anfield. But once the World Cup dust settles and Iraola’s plans harden, the picture will sharpen quickly.

Is Cody Gakpo the man Liverpool build around on the left, or the asset they cash in on to fund the next evolution of their attack? This summer, they will have to choose.