Cody Gakpo: How Having a Settled Position Has Improved His Consistency

Written on 13/01/2025

Since arriving from PSV Eindhoven in the middle of the 2022/23 season until the end of the 2023/24 season, there were genuine doubts regarding Cody Gakpo’s future at Liverpool and what position he is very good at. We all knew his prowess playing for PSV when he scored 55 goals and assisted 50 in 159 appearances in all competitions — 118 of those appearances on the left wing.

However, upon his arrival at Anfield in January 2023, the 25-year-old played 26 games in all competitions for Liverpool in the second half of the 22/23 season, only two on the left wing and 22 as a number nine. Last season, the Dutch international played 53 games in all competitions, 12 on the left wing, 27 as a number nine and seven as a central midfielder.

While I am no one to judge or critique what an elite football manager like Jürgen Klopp thinks the best for Gakpo is, the numbers did not make sense. Having played 74.21% of his PSV games on the left wing, it was puzzling to see him play only 17.72% of his games in that position for Liverpool up until the end of last season. The other side of the coin is that the Reds indeed had options with Luis Díaz playing there and Klopp sometimes favoured Darwin Núñez from the wing as well.

Arne Slot has managed the situation carefully though. After seeing what Gakpo can do at PSV from the left and also witnessing how good he was in the Euros for the Dutch playing there, the new boss has played him in his ‘natural’ left-wing position more often than not (86.66% of his appearances this season have come in that position).

Slot has also rotated Gakpo with Diaz very well and managed to use them together with the latter playing as a number nine. We might see the rotation bit coming back as Diogo Jota is fully fit now and would start most games in the centre-forward position.

Is it a coincidence though that Gakpo’s numbers have gotten better this season with him playing in his favoured position and also having his position defined by the manager? Don’t think so. Let’s look at the table to show that:

The 25-year-old’s finishing (non-penalty: goals - xG) was always on the positive during his time at PSV (+0.08 per 90 on average). That number came down upon his arrival at Liverpool and even became negative last season. It is back on the healthier positive side this season. He is creating at a better rate this season, just a tad unlucky that the assist numbers are lower.