Sometimes versatility can be a curse as much as a blessing. And Cody Gakpo’s season was one where helping the team was occasionally a hindrance to his development at Liverpool.
Gakpo went into the campaign on the back of a strong finish to his debut term as the first-choice central attacker having joined the previous January from PSV Eindhoven.
A profitable warm-up programme followed. But Liverpool’s selection and availability issues meant the Dutchman was compelled to begin the campaign in central midfield. And that set the tone for an inconsistent run of form that saw him score just twice in the Premier League before the New Year.
End-of-season ratings:
Much of that was down to Gakpo starting only five top-flight games as the central striker before mid-February. Other competitions offered solace for the Dutchman, most notably the League Cup where Gakpo netted in each of the wins over Leicester City, Bournemouth, West Ham United and Fulham, and started the final triumph over Chelsea.
That Wembley outing, though, came at a time when Gakpo’s availability compared to others – he was missing for only four games all season – began to take a toll on his physical and mental sharpness. As well as centre forward and midfield, Gakpo started games on the left wing and, when Mohamed Salah was absent, also on the right. Consistency was understandably difficult.
“Cody had a bit of a struggle, it was more my fault,” said then Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp in February. “We spoke about can Cody play a midfield position for us, yes he can in different moments. Is it his position? I would say no.
“The offensive part of the role he can definitely play, but with the defensive things which he was not used to, that cost him a bit of confidence in moments, you could see that.
“The boy came here and was flying from day one pretty much and then all of a sudden you saw, okay that’s now not exactly the same. These kinds of things happen.”
It got worse before it became better for Gakpo, not least a poor cameo in the FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester United. That prompted talks with Klopp that resulted in a much stronger end to the campaign, with Gakpo wresting the first-choice number nine role from Darwin Nunez and contributing three goals and two assists in his final eight league outings.
Indeed, the one game he was forced to miss due to his partner going into labour saw the forward sorely missed in the dismal Merseyside derby defeat at Everton that effectively ended hopes of winning the Premier League title.
After such a testing campaign, Gakpo ended it as well as any of his team-mates and will hope to take that momentum into the European Championships with Holland. And with compatriot Arne Slot arriving as head coach, the return to form is particularly timely, whether it was down the left or the centre – Gakpo’s two much preferred positions.
If, for varying reasons, there have been question marks of late over the long-term futures of fellow forwards Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Nunez, by contrast Gakpo is again being seen as a player who can become a key figure for Liverpool. Having just turned 25, next season promises to be a big one – should he operate in his best positions, of course.
End-of-season rating: 6