Cody Gakpo Shines in Liverpool's Premier League Victory
Andoni Iraola never blinked. Not when the rumours swirled all summer, not when Manchester City circled with £85m on the table, and not when Cody Gakpo walked out at Portman Road with questions still hanging over his Liverpool future.
By full-time on Friday night, those questions had a very simple answer.
Gakpo ripped into Ipswich Town from the first whistle, stitching together Liverpool’s first win of the Premier League season with a performance that matched the noise around his name. Two sharp, incisive assists for Alexander Isak inside the opening nine minutes put the game to bed before Ipswich had even settled. Liverpool were 2-0 up, cruising, and their left-winger was running the show.
All this after a summer in which he was tipped to leave.
Tottenham were floated as an option, with suggestions the Dutchman wanted to explore north London. Then came City, with their £85m interest and the promise of a starring role under Pep Guardiola. Liverpool listened. They considered. But as the deadline crept closer, one problem refused to go away: they couldn’t find anyone they trusted to replace him.
So they kept him. Iraola, for one, never doubted the call.
“I had no doubt with Cody,” the Liverpool head coach told reporters after the win. “He has been very, very good. All pre-season, [and] has started very well this season, producing numbers.”
The numbers were there again at Ipswich. Two early assists from the left, then a shift through the middle to see the game out as the No. 9. It was exactly the kind of versatility Iraola has been banking on.
“Today, even after the two assists, he finishes as the No. 9 to help us close the game,” Iraola said. “I think it’s good to have Cody because he can play in the three positions up top, like all of our other players.
“To have him in this place for the beginning of the season is good.”
Gakpo’s response to the noise has been simple: play. He was one of Liverpool’s standout performers in pre-season, has carried that form into the opening weeks, and now looks less like a saleable asset and more like a pillar of Iraola’s attack.
And that matters, because the competition around him has never been fiercer.
Gakpo at the heart of a crowded frontline
Liverpool spent £123m on Bradley Barcola in the summer, a statement signing expected to jostle straight into the front line. Rio and Victor add further depth and threat. The message is clear: no one’s shirt is guaranteed.
Iraola, though, made it just as clear that Gakpo is central to his plans.
“I think Cody knows how much we value him. I think there is no doubt. I rate him very highly,” he said. “I will demand [a lot] of him, obviously. He has also strong competition for minutes because we have good players in those positions, and it’s a matter of pushing each other.
“Now with Bradley, with Rio, with Victor, it’s a matter of sometimes they will start, sometimes they will come from the bench, sometimes they will not play. But this competition, I think, is going to be good for our team.”
The pressure is deliberate. Iraola wants forwards who fight for every minute, who can switch roles mid-game and maintain the same level of threat. Gakpo’s display at Ipswich – creator, then central reference point – ticked every box.
Barcola’s careful introduction
While Gakpo stole the headlines, Barcola’s Liverpool story quietly began.
The France international had not played a single minute since the World Cup. No pre-season, no match rhythm, just training-ground work and expectation. Iraola resisted the temptation to throw him in from the start and instead eased him on for the final half-hour.
“I think Bradley hadn’t played a single minute since the World Cup so we needed to be careful,” Iraola explained. “I think he is training well, in a good place, and I think that he has helped us.”
The flashes were there. Barcola found pockets of space, carried the ball with intent, and on another night might have had a goal or assist to his name.
“Probably, we haven’t found him in a couple of situations where I think he was going against the ‘keeper, but we haven’t really seen his movements,” Iraola said. “And also he has had a very good counter, very good passing side that I think Cody finished, but we didn’t score. But he was always a threat, you know?
“When he carries the ball, I think you can feel this threat and I’m happy because I think 30 minutes is going to be good for his fitness, for his build-up, and we will continue because now we play a lot of games, so he will have a chance to play more.”
The warning to fans was gentle but firm: patience.
“I think it’s normal, he hasn’t played any pre-season minutes,” Iraola added. “I think he’s still in a good place. I don’t think he will need something like a very special build-up, but we have to be aware that he hasn’t been playing in a while and the demands of the games are very different from training, so we have got to consider this.”
Liverpool’s attack, then, is a work in progress – but a dangerous one. Gakpo is delivering, Isak is scoring, Barcola is looming, and the calendar is about to get crowded.
If this is what Gakpo looks like after a summer spent on the brink of a move, what happens now that his future, and his manager’s faith, could not be clearer?
