The good performances of Cody Gakpo (23) at the World Cup in Qatar have earned him a transfer to the illustrious Liverpool FC. His club PSV, where Gakpo has played since he was seven, reached an agreement with last season’s Champions League finalist on Boxing Day. The attacker is now in Liverpool, where he is undergoing a medical examination, among other things.
Although there is already an agreement, it will only take effect “formally” on January 1, 2023, because the winter transfer period will open then, a PSV spokesman emails. With the departure, the club loses its top scorer and, in sporting and economic terms, most valuable player.
PSV reportedly sells Gakpo for around 50 million euros, although the clubs do not make any statements about the transfer fee. “But this is a record transfer for PSV,” says general manager Marcel Brands on the club site. The previous record was 40 million euros; Napoli paid that in 2019 for the Mexican Hirving Lozano.
With the signing of Gakpo, Liverpool surprisingly trumps Manchester United. That was in negotiations with PSV for a long time – United coach Erik ten Hag wanted him. But in the summer transfer window, the clubs failed to reach an agreement. In addition, United brought Brazilian attacker Antony from Ajax for 95 million euros.
Analytical and data driven
Liverpool is known for its very targeted – and supported by statistics – buying players, where until more than ten years ago it squandered many millions on acquisitions that did not pay off. After the takeover in 2010 by the American billionaire John Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox baseball club and has a highly analytical and data-driven approach, the club set out on that course.
Liverpool has its own research department that conducts in-depth evaluations of potential purchases. It was partly for this reason that the club paid 84.5 million euros five years ago for defender Virgil van Dijk, who had previously not been noticed by other top clubs. Striker Mo Salah, bought in 2017 for more than 40 million, also only grew into a revelation at Liverpool.
This transfer policy, in combination with the German top coach Jürgen Klopp who was given time to build a team, has led to the national title (2020) and the final victory in the Champions League (2019) in recent years. At Liverpool, Gakpo will have to deal with Dutch assistant coach Pepijn Lijnders in addition to Van Dijk, with whom he has already spoken about the club.
Gakpo’s data is unequivocally good. In the Eredivisie, sporting the sixth league in Europe, he is not only the top scorer (9 goals) after fourteen matches this season, but he is also the best when it comes to assists (12), shots on target (26), opportunities created (59) and arrived crosses (52). “Pretty special, because it is rarely the same player who is at the top of all these categories,” says Yeun Au of sports data company Stats Perform.
In Europe, Gakpo was unable to make a difference in August during the decisive game at home against Rangers, in which PSV missed out on a place in the Champions League. But at the Dutch team, Gakpo showed that he has the potential to be a top European player by scoring a goal in every group match at the World Cup. In addition to being the top scorer for the Orange, he also created the most chances for the Orange at the World Cup: five from open play, five from set pieces.
Those statistics will have helped convince Liverpool to sign him, as their interest was not concrete before the World Cup. Gakpo is physically strong, can accelerate and has a hard and often effective shot. Moreover, he lives a disciplined life for his sport. The question is whether he can keep up with the extremely fast pace of the Premier League.
Read also: an interview with Cody Gakpo about his life and faith, during the World Cup in Qatar, which was so successful for him.
In recent years, the transfer of several promising players from the Eredivisie to clubs in the top of the Premier League has not always worked out well. Memphis Depay did not make it at Manchester United, Donny van de Beek is now languishing at the same club and Hakim Ziyech does not play much at Chelsea. A more gradual build-up, via clubs in the middle bracket, can work better, the careers of Van Dijk, Georginio Wijnaldum and Nathan Aké have shown.
The most important factor in whether a purchase succeeds is that the team the player joins is running well, Liverpool coach Klopp previously said. “It is an established team. That if a new player comes in, he should not make the difference from day one.” Liverpool is a structured, well-played team, but has faced a setback this season: the team is sixth, fifteen points behind leaders Arsenal.
The transfer is the culmination of a turbulent period at PSV, which cost technical director John de Jong his position in September. At the end of August, towards the end of the summer transfer window, there was an offer from Southampton of 32 million plus possible bonuses. And one from Leeds United of 30 million, plus 13 million in possible bonuses. The management did not agree with either, because in their eyes the market value of Gakpo was higher. And because they wanted to go for the title with Gakpo.
The Supervisory Board then lost confidence in De Jong, they wanted to realize a transfer, partly with a view to finances. De Jong then resigned. “If I had sold Gakpo, I would still have been with PSV,” De Jong recently said VI. He said he hoped that PSV “will generate a very nice and high amount after this season”. It was five months earlier. PSV is entering the decisive phase of the season without its top player.