Ryan Babel has hailed the talents of Cody Gakpo after his goalscoring performance against Senegal in the World Cup group stages, noting that defenders are struggling to deal with the 23-year-old.
This follows on from the Dutchman’s admission to NOS that he’d happily play for a club of Liverpool’s calibre (amongst a host of other top European outfits).
“I first became aware of Gakpo’s talent and qualities in the 2019-20 season,” the ex-Red told The Athletic.
“He was performing well for PSV Eindhoven but also for the second team of the Dutch squad. He is doing it for the Netherlands at this World Cup — he has two goals already and looks to be the man in form.
“His skills are very diversified. He’s able to go outside his full-back, he has the pace to run behind the defenders centrally, and he can cut inside from the left and shoot.
“You’ve seen it during the group stages — defenders know he can do many things and that puts a slight doubt in their minds about what to do.
“Scouts would have told players to defend against Gakpo’s right foot but he has already scored with a header and using his left.”
The Netherlands are currently on course to qualify past Group A, assuming they can grab all three points against Qatar today.
Interest in Mohammed Kudus of Ghana would suggest that the club is considering attacking options in addition to midfield replacements.
With Jude Bellingham – considered our top target – set to cost upwards of £100m, however, and Liverpool being keen on another signing in the middle of the park beyond that (if reports are to be believed), it’s difficult to see how we have the financial flexibility to land a forward beyond that.
It would be a huge shame to lose out on either the Ghanian or Gakpo as a result, of course, so we can only hope that one or both options aren’t snapped up in the next two transfer windows.
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Kudus, Gapko and Rice, all trhree for Belingham price. For me answer iz so easy. Buy that three.