Cody Gakpo’s uncertain future points to a bigger Liverpool challenge for Andoni Iraola

Cody Gakpo is being linked with a Liverpool exit, and that matters because the club’s attack has already been stripped back sharply. New head coach Andoni Iraola could inherit a forward line with little continuity from the one that won the Premier League title.

Fourteen months ago, Liverpool had just won the league emphatically. Mohamed Salah led the scoring, with Gakpo and Luis Diaz regular starters and Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez providing the main alternatives. Federico Chiesa, the only signing of that season, played a limited role.

Now the question is how much of that group will still be around when Iraola’s tenure begins. Jota’s death was a tragedy; Diaz and Nunez were sold last summer, and Salah is due to leave on a free transfer next week after nine years at the club. Chiesa may also move on. Although some have argued his game could fit Iraola better than it did under the sacked Arne Slot, the Italian wants more playing time and may look elsewhere in the coming months.

That leaves Gakpo as another uncertain piece. He fell short of the standard he had set over his first two and a half years at Liverpool, though he was hardly alone: few senior forwards emerged from a deeply disappointing campaign with much credit. Still, a possible Gakpo departure would make an already substantial rebuild harder for Iraola to manage.

For more on the questions around Liverpool’s transfer plans, see the warning over Iraola and Liverpool’s transfer links and the advice to Yan Diomande to choose Florian Wirtz.

Source links: Liverpool, Andoni Iraola, Premier League, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa, and Arne Slot.

Gakpo’s future is tied to Liverpool’s need for experience

The criticism aimed at Cody Gakpo grew beyond online grumbling and reached the Anfield stands. His role made him an easy target: he was competing with 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha for the left flank, where supporters saw a rare bright spot in a difficult season, while injuries to Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike forced Gakpo to start six of Liverpool’s final nine Premier League matches as a centre forward. That stretch may have obscured where he is most effective. At the World Cup, Gakpo scored twice and assisted once in the Netherlands’ 5-1 group-stage win over Sweden, then scored twice in a warm-up match against Uzbekistan. Liverpool had seen some improvement late in the season too: assists against Fulham and Everton, plus a goal against Manchester United. There’s a real question over whether Gakpo stays. Several clubs are interested, with Tottenham Hotspur the most prominent, but reports from the Netherlands conflict on whether he wants to leave. If he does, the 27-year-old would have reason to feel that parts of the fanbase made his position untenable. Liverpool, meanwhile, have yet to settle his role as new manager Iraola continues to assess the squad. The club has already begun reshaping its attack, signing Spain international Victor Munoz last week after triggering his £34.5 million release clause at Osasuna. Yan Diomande is the main target for further reinforcement, and signing the 19-year-old would be a coup. It would also add to a pressing concern: Liverpool could be relying on two forwards who have never played in England and have each completed only one full season in a top European league, alongside a teenager with five top-flight starts, a striker who has rarely been fit over the past year, and another who is unlikely to play this year. That’s a lot of uncertainty to absorb at once. Two of Liverpool’s four senior centre-back options, Giovanni Leoni and new £60 million signing Jeremy Jacquet, have yet to play in the Premier League. The club can’t afford another first half of the season spent waiting for a long list of newcomers to adjust. Fresh faces can bring energy, and Anfield’s leadership believes the squad needs a reset this summer. But the balance matters as much as the arrivals. Gakpo wasn’t Liverpool’s most effective player last season, nor its most popular. Still, his experience and recent signs of form could make him valuable in the Iraola era—if he’s still at the club when the window closes on September 2.