Liverpool have wasted little time in strengthening their attacking options with the £44million signing of Holland international Cody Gakpo.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are playing catch up in the race for the Premier League top four but the signing of Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven – ahead of rivals Manchester United – is a statement of intent.
On the face of it, Liverpool already appear to be blessed with plenty of firepower. However, delve a little deeper and it’s easy to see why the move has been made for 23-year-old Gakpo after he impressed at the World Cup.
Cody Gakpo enjoyed a good World Cup with Holland and has now signed for LiverpoolÂ
The left-sided attacker will wear the No 18 shirt at Anfield after Liverpool paid £44m for him
Colombian striker Luis Diaz, who has four goals this season, could be sidelined until March after suffering a setback in his recovery from a knee injury during Liverpool’s World Cup training camp in Dubai.
Portuguese forward Diogo Jota suffered a calf injury in Liverpool’s win over Manchester City in October and unfortunately missed the World Cup. He will still be out for several more weeks.
Darwin Nunez has performed pretty well since Liverpool paid a club-record £85m for him in the summer but the Uruguayan still has only five Premier League goals to his credit and nine overall.
Jurgen Klopp may appear to have plenty of attacking options – but that isn’t necessarily true
Colombian attacker Luis Diaz is expected to be sidelined until March with a knee injury
Then there’s the longer-term to think of. Roberto Firmino also has nine for the campaign in all competitions but he is out of contract in the summer.
Luckily, Mohamed Salah is as prolific as ever, but all things considered, it isn’t surprising that Klopp felt the need to enter the market for another forward to keep the season alive.
The Reds are still five points off the top four and a seemingly insurmountable 15 off leaders Arsenal. They’re out the Carabao Cup and have to confront Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Diogo Jota is also currently out with a calf injury, offering Gakpo the chance to play regularly
Mohamed Salah has been leading the way in terms of goals during Liverpool’s season so far
Darwin Nunez has scored five Premier League goals and nine overall since his £85m arrival
Roberto Firmino’s long-term future at Anfield is up in the air with his contract running down
But Gakpo will provide a stick of dynamite to ignite the second half of the campaign and given he plays mainly on the left, he should get a run of games to assert himself with Diaz and Jota missing.
Here’s how the new arrival compares to Liverpool’s existing attacking players on current season form.
GOALSCORING
It’s no secret that Gakpo is one of the most in-form players in European football this season, scoring nine times in the Dutch Eredivisie and three times in the Europa League for PSV before the World Cup.
That came off the back of a 21-goal haul in all competitions last season. And if anybody doubted whether Gakpo was capable of making the step-up to a superior league, his three World Cup goals were pretty persuasive.
He scored in all three of Holland’s group stage games, against Senegal, Ecuador and Qatar, though he wasn’t able to influence in their quarter-final exit to eventual winners Argentina.
Gakpo has out-scored all of Liverpool’s existing forwards for league goals this season – Salah and Firmino have seven, Nunez has five, Diaz three and Jota none.
Gakpo was in sensational form for PSV Eindhoven, with a flurry of goals and assists this termÂ
How Cody Gakpo’s performances for PSV this season compare to his Liverpool team-mates
He has also managed a goal in the Eredivisie every 125.1 minutes, again trumping all of his new team-mates in the Premier League competition.
Yes, of course there are caveats here. Jota has started just two Premier League games amid a season of injury frustration, so can hardly be expected to score many.
Diaz started the season promisingly, scoring three times in the opening five league games before suffering that knee injury.
Gakpo has a better minutes-per-goal record than any of Liverpool’s players this season
Gakpo, 23, has scored a number of important goals for PSV in the first half of the campaign
But Gakpo’s minutes per goal return is superior to everyone else at Liverpool, albeit in a league not on the same level as the Premier League.
On the other hand, plenty of forwards have made that leap to English football look effortless in the past and, in terms of the here and now, Gakpo is in excellent scoring form.
That’s exactly what Klopp and Liverpool need at the moment.
SHOT CONVERSION
Gakpo has a shot conversion rate of 17.7 per cent from 51 attempts in the Eredivisie this season.
This puts him ahead of Salah’s 13.2 per cent from 53 efforts in the Premier League, but below Firmino’s 21.2 per cent from 33 shots. Darwin Nunez has just an 11.1 per cent conversion rate.
It speaks of a player who is more than able to put away a chance when it comes his way.
The YouTube video compilations of Gakpo’s strikes this season show a player who works the left channel brilliantly, skipping away from defenders and finishing near or far post with either foot.
If he can’t get clear, we also see Gakpo cutting inside with a sharp turn of pace before unleashing on the right boot. One of the Europa League goals he scored against Zurich is a good example of the power in his shot.
Gakpo plays usually on the left but Holland boss Louis van Gaal played him more centrally
He scored in all three of Holland’s group games in Qatar – including here against Ecuador
ASSISTS AND CREATIVITY
The clips also show a clever player when it comes to setting up chances for team-mates. Gakpo comfortably outranks all of Liverpool’s players this season when it comes to assists and chance creation.
He has a remarkable 17 assists overall, as compared to six for Salah, five for Jota, four for Firmino, three for Nunez and two for Diaz.
Most arise from a kind of effortless-looking chipped cross Gakpo supplies from the left side, while he also delivers a very good corner.
Encouragingly for Liverpool, he delivered a corner from which Virgil van Dijk headed Holland’s winner against Belgium in the Nations League back in September.
Gakpo (left) has set up headed goals for Virgil van Dijk during games for the national sideÂ
Some fun could be had if Gakpo does take corners for Liverpool, with Feyenoord caught cold when he swung in a near-post corner with dip and fade that Everton loanee Jarrad Branthwaite poked home.
Gakpo supplied three assists that day, as well as scoring, as PSV beat their Rotterdam rivals 4-3.
Including his haul of 12 Eredivisie assists, Gakpo has created 59 chances in league action. Liverpool’s highest is Salah with 33.
It all suggests Gakpo’s Liverpool team-mates won’t be short of service one he is integrated into the side.
Gakpo enjoyed an exceptional afternoon when PSV beat Feyenoord, scoring one goal and assisting three more in a 4-3 league win
DRIBBLES AND PASSING
A player unafraid to take on an opponent is always a crowd-pleaser and Liverpool fans are no different.
Gakpo has a high dribble success rate of 46.4 per cent this season, though he is beaten by Diaz’s 53.9 per cent, albeit from a much smaller sample size.
His passing accuracy also stands up to scrutiny compared to his new colleagues and two other statistics will also impress Liverpool fans.
Jurgen Klopp welcomes Gakpo to Liverpool’s training centre with a hug on Wednesday
He won back possession for PSV 48 times during the first part of the season, hinting at a player willing to press from the front and hustle the ball back.
Gakpo was also fouled 29 times during those 14 games, so he’s more than accustomed to combative ways of stopping him in full flight, which bodes well for the Premier League.
It remains to be seen how Gakpo adapts to the new challenge of English football but the stats, at least, suggest he could be a very good buy indeed for Liverpool.
