PSV wins after AS Monaco thriller and now hopes to keep Gakpo

“Cody must stay!” echoed through the Philips Stadium all evening. As PSV fans celebrated their 3-2 win over AS Monaco in the third qualifying round for the Champions League play-offs, they tried to win over their star player. Cody Gakpo (23) often waved. Whether he will stay with PSV this season will become clear in the coming weeks. Or as he recently put it in front of the camera of the NOS expressed. Gakpo: “My choice is not necessarily based on reaching the Champions League.”

So wait a little longer. It was a strange situation. A footballer who can partly determine his own future with a hit shot or a failed chance. Gakpo was unable to make the difference for PSV on Tuesday evening. It was Joey Veerman who gave the Eindhoven public hope with a sharp slide in the 21st minute, Guillermo Maripan and Ben Yedder threatened to eliminate PSV after the break until substitute Erick Gutiérrez equalized in the 89th minute. extension. Luuk de Jong became PSV’s savior with a striking header.

PSV will now play in the play-offs for the Champions League in a double meeting with Rangers FC.

The difference between the Champions League and the Europa League is huge in every way. PSV is actually sentenced every year to sell the best players of the club. Qualifying for the Champions League will bring in around 40 million euros, but foreign clubs can still buy players with large amounts. That is how it is in 2022 for a club like PSV that is financially far behind top clubs from England, Spain and Germany. Club love is no longer a decisive factor these days. No matter how deep that feeling is.

Child of the club

Gakpo is a real kid of the club. He went through the entire training from an early age. From the F’s to the first team. As a native of Eindhoven, Gakpo has always had the gun factor. The middle son of the Togolese footballer Johnny Gakpo and the Dutch rugby star Ank van Bommel turned out to be a natural talent. Gakpo managed to match his enormous talent and speed with the right work ethic. He always had only one goal in mind: to succeed as a professional football player. The number 11 of PSV is now a crowd favorite in Eindhoven.

Gakpo radiates a great belief in his own abilities without adopting a haughty attitude. That’s always been the case. As a still unknown teenager, he played himself in 2016 together with runner Jay van Brienen and kickboxer Tyjani Beztati in the video clip ‘de Man’ by Amsterdam rapper Diorno Braaf. Gakpo followed like a boy with a dream. On a long road to success. Looking at the lamps of the Philips Stadium. Two years later he made his appearance there. And this Tuesday evening he is the man at PSV on whom a lot of hopes are pinned.

Gakpo is in two minds: stay or leave Eindhoven

It went fast. Gakpo was still in the shadow of his teammate Steven Bergwijn four years ago. That was a luxury for PSV. The club knew that if Bergwijn left, a talented successor was available. And so it happened. Bergwijn left for Tottenham Hotspur in January 2020 for thirty million euros. Gakpo moved on and became a permanent fixture at PSV.

The Orange international made great strides with his shoe size 46 and attracted the attention of Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich. Gakpo extended his contract in January of this year until 2026. His plan was to exchange PSV as champion of the Netherlands for an international top club this summer. That failed. The national title went to Ajax. And winning the KNVB Cup felt like a consolation prize.

World Cup in Qatar

Gakpo has been in two minds for months. On the one hand, he would very much like to give PSV a top prize. As Gini Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay did in 2015 before making a move abroad.

At PSV, he will be assured of a base place in the run-up to the World Cup in Qatar. Moreover, he could continue to live in the center of Eindhoven, not far from his parental home in the Stratum district. But on the other hand, the big money beckons. Play in a top league. In big stadiums. Like his great example Thierry Henry.

Until last Sunday, the same applied to his teammate Ibrahim Sangaré, who came over from French Toulouse two years ago for nine million euros and signed until 2025. The 24-year-old midfielder decided to extend his contract with AS Monaco for two years just before the return. extend. The African did not respond to the interest of clubs such as Aston Villa, Everton and Crystal Palace. Sangaré only suggested that PSV want to leave a real top club. With that, the midfielder from Ivory Coast put an end to the uncertainty for the club and for himself. “This gives a lot of peace of mind. I feel comfortable here and now I want to continue my development at PSV,” said Sangaré during a press conference. “We feel the frustration of last year’s missed championship. It just gives motivation to do even better this year.”

Sangaré expressed the hope that Gakpo will also stay. “It would be great if we could keep this group together,” said Sangaré. Gakpo will calmly await meetings with Rangers FC in the coming weeks and see which clubs come for him. In the meantime, PSV’s supporters will continue to beg him to stay in Eindhoven.