Liverpool face a frantic final three days with Cody Gakpo edging towards Manchester City and major squad gaps still unresolved

I went to bed last night trying to make sense of what is happening at Liverpool Football Club, and I woke up this morning no closer to finding an answer. Cody Gakpo wants Manchester City, Liverpool appear willing to sell him if they can find a replacement, we still need a midfielder, we still need a right-back, Bradley Barcola has not even completed his medical yet, and there are barely three days remaining in the transfer window.

My overriding question is simple. Who is actually looking after Liverpool’s interests here?

I have no anger towards Cody. If he wants to leave, he will have his reasons, and none of us knows exactly what has happened behind the scenes. Maybe the arrival of Barcola has changed his thinking. Maybe some of the treatment he received from supporters last season affected him. Maybe Manchester City have simply convinced him that their project is better for him. Whatever the reason, David Ornstein reported last night that Gakpo has decided he wants City and talks are taking place.

Fine. Cody is entitled to look after Cody.

Manchester City are entitled to look after Manchester City.

My concern is who is looking after Liverpool.

Selling Gakpo To City Makes No Sense Without An Upgrade

In isolation, £85 million for Cody Gakpo is an enormous amount of money. I have never pretended Cody is a perfect footballer. He has limitations, and there were periods last season when his performances frustrated me. But he is an established international, a Premier League winner, he knows this league and he has probably been Liverpool’s most consistent attacker during the opening weeks of the season.

He was good again against Nottingham Forest. He created Alexander Isak’s goal after moving across to the right and showed that he can give Iraola another option there. So if you are asking me whether I would sell Gakpo for £85 million and replace him with Michael Olise, I understand the argument immediately. If you tell me Liverpool somehow have Julian Alvarez or another genuine elite player lined up, let’s have that conversation.

But Ismaïla Sarr?

I don’t see it.

Liverpool have also been looking at Yankuba Minteh and Matías Fernández-Pardo, but where is the obvious improvement? Liverpool’s position appears to be that they will sanction Gakpo’s departure once they find a suitable replacement. That tells you the replacement is not even secured yet.

That is absolutely backwards.

Every selling club now knows Liverpool could receive £85 million. They know we have three days remaining. They know we cannot sell Gakpo without replacing him. If Richard Hughes phones Brighton, Crystal Palace or anybody else this morning, what do you think happens to the price?

Congratulations, that £85 million you received for Cody has suddenly become remarkably similar to the valuation of whichever player you want.

This is what happens when you fail to plan.

Midfield And Right-Back Are Still Being Ignored

What really stopped me in my tracks last night was the information I received after making a few calls.

I was hoping Liverpool might have something quietly developing in midfield. Maybe there was a deal nobody had managed to uncover yet. Perhaps Lamine Camara remained possible.

From what I was told, don’t expect it.

I cannot say with absolute certainty that Liverpool will not sign a midfielder or right-back because information can change and nobody knows every conversation taking place inside the club. But there was very little encouragement about either position.

That is astonishing to me.

We have all watched the same football. Liverpool are too easy to play through. We need somebody capable of protecting the defence, breaking things up and bringing greater control to the midfield. Camara appears available, Chelsea are circling and Liverpool have done groundwork on him, yet we seem willing to let somebody else have a free run.

Then there is right-back.

Jeremy Frimpong was dreadful against Forest. I don’t enjoy saying that about a Liverpool player, but I cannot dress it up. His positioning was poor, his recovery work wasn’t good enough and Liverpool actually looked more secure when Dominik Szoboszlai moved across.

That cannot be the solution.

Liverpool previously had an outline agreement with Andrei Rațiu, who had a €25 million release clause, yet nothing progressed and he is now heading elsewhere. Other options disappeared throughout the summer and here we are, days before the deadline, still without a solution.

Iraola deserves better than this.

Stop-Gap Signing Says Everything About FSG

There was another interesting part of the information I received last night.

If Liverpool replace Gakpo, I was told to think about the incoming right winger potentially being a stop-gap rather than the grand solution. Endrick remains somebody Liverpool have explored on a loan basis, although that obviously requires Real Madrid to play ball. Sarr would be permanent, while Fernández-Pardo is another option being considered.

The suggestion is that there are much bigger ambitions further down the road.

And that brings us to FSG.

What was communicated to me is that FSG have one foot out of the door. The consortium led by Amit Bhatia is expected, from what I am hearing, to have an increasingly significant role around the football operation, with ambitious plans for Liverpool’s future.

Some of what I heard genuinely excites me.

But I don’t want to hear about next summer right now.

I don’t care about some superstar Liverpool might sign in 2027 if we spend this season watching teams walk through our midfield. You need Champions League football to attract the very best players, and there is absolutely no guarantee Liverpool achieve that if Iraola is expected to compete with a squad this thin.

We have started the Premier League season with two draws. We haven’t won in five league matches stretching back into last season. The squad that won the title has been ripped apart at an astonishing speed, and we are now discussing another major departure rather than the reinforcements the manager desperately needs.

Future ambition is wonderful.

Liverpool need ambition today.

FSG’s Liverpool Legacy Is Reaching Its Conclusion

People know my feelings about FSG. I have been saying this for years and I am not going to suddenly rewrite my opinion because their time at Liverpool appears to be approaching its conclusion.

They have increased the value of Liverpool enormously. From an investment perspective, they have done a magnificent job. The stadium has improved, commercial revenues have grown and an asset they bought relatively cheaply is now worth billions.

But Liverpool Football Club should not exist to maximise somebody’s investment.

It exists to win.

That has always been my problem. I have never seen owners prepared to leave absolutely everything on the table in pursuit of sustained dominance. Liverpool win the league and then retreat. We build something magnificent and then allow it to deteriorate. Jurgen Klopp dragged this football club back to the summit through his personality, management and sheer force of will, but we never properly capitalised on the position he created.

Now Iraola is inheriting another version of the same problem.

Richard Hughes deserves enormous criticism as well. Even with financial restrictions, this window could have been managed infinitely better. Targets could have been identified earlier, deals could have been progressed earlier and the squad could have been balanced before competitive football started. Instead, Liverpool are contemplating selling Gakpo to a direct rival while desperately searching for somebody to replace him.

That is not industry leading recruitment.

It is improvisation.

I desperately hope the information about Liverpool’s future ownership proves correct. I hope ambitious people arrive who understand that financial sustainability and sporting ambition do not have to be enemies. I hope we reach a point where the people running Liverpool are obsessed with making this football team the best it can possibly be.

But that is tomorrow’s conversation.

Today, Iraola needs help.

Get Barcola through the door. Keep Gakpo unless you have a genuine upgrade ready. Sign the midfielder this team is crying out for. Find a solution at right-back.

Three days.

Stop talking about plans and start acting like Liverpool Football Club.

Much love.