It’s Time To Judge Cody Gakpo Under Iraola, Not Slot
Cody Gakpo spent much of last season as an easy target for criticism, and it is not hard to see why. A difficult campaign, inconsistent output, and a fanbase growing impatient combined to leave his Liverpool future looking genuinely uncertain. Yet as the new season approaches under Andoni Iraola, our sense is that the mood around Gakpo has quietly shifted, and it deserves more attention than it has received so far.
A Player More Likely to Stay Than Go
Recent discussion on Anfield Index’s Media Matters show, featuring Eddie Gibbs and Lewis Steele, pointed towards Gakpo now being more likely to remain at Liverpool this summer than to depart, even with interest from elsewhere continuing to circulate. That interest is nothing new. Clubs were already circling a year ago, and the fact those same conversations persist without materialising into anything concrete tells its own story. Speculation around Gakpo has become something of a summer fixture rather than a genuine indicator of an impending exit.
We think that pattern is worth remembering whenever his name resurfaces in transfer coverage. Interest without a bid, repeated across multiple windows, usually says more about a player’s reputation than about any actual likelihood of a move.
The Honest Assessment of a Difficult Season
To their credit, the pundits did not shy away from an honest verdict on Gakpo’s previous campaign, describing it fairly as a poor one overall, with plenty of criticism from supporters along the way. We would not dispute that assessment. But an acknowledgement that a player underperformed is not the same as writing him off entirely, and the conversation was careful to draw that distinction. There remains, in their words, a genuinely good player somewhere within that underwhelming season, and his ability to operate across all three forward positions still counts for something in a squad short on attacking cover.
Iraola’s Arrival Could Reshape His Role
The most compelling reason for optimism is not really about Gakpo himself but about circumstance. With Hugo Ekitike still some way from returning, Gakpo looks set to be leaned on through the middle in the short term, and further forward reinforcements expected before the window closes could ultimately push him into a more flexible role across the front line, potentially even on the right. None of that guarantees a change in form, but it does suggest Liverpool’s new coaching staff see enough in him to keep building around rather than sidelining.
Our Verdict
There is a version of this story where Gakpo drifts towards the exit having never fully delivered on his early promise at Anfield. But the more likely version, based on where things stand now, involves a player given fresh licence to rebuild his reputation under a head coach who inherited him rather than signed him, and who therefore has every incentive to judge him with an open mind. A difficult season does not have to define a career, and for now the direction of travel points towards opportunity rather than an exit door marked out for Cody Gakpo.