Ally McCoist admitted he wasn’t convinced by Liverpool and Tottenham target Cody Gakpo before he scored for the Netherlands against Senegal.
The World Cup has taken centre stage and England made a great start with a 6-2 thrashing of Iran in Doha.
The attention then turned to Senegal versus the Netherlands, which was a less entertaining affair.
It took until the 84th minute to find the opener as PSV Eindhoven star Cody Gakpo headed in the opener from Frenkie de Jong’s cross.
Davy Klaassen added a late second for the Netherlands to secure a 2-0 win, starting their career in style.
Ally McCoist changes his mind onLiverpool and Tottenham target Gakpo
Whilst there were bigger names in the Netherlands squad, many eyes were on PSV star Gakpo.
The 23-year-old has racked up a ridiculous 13 goals and 17 assists in 24 games for PSV this season.
Gakpo has become one of the most in-demand players outside of the so-called ‘big five’ leagues – England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Clubs are queueing up for Gakpo and the World Cup is a great test for him.
Claims from the Netherlands have suggested that Liverpool want Gakpo with assistant boss Pep Lijnders believing he’s the missing link for the Reds.
Dean Jones has also told Give Me Sport that Tottenham Hotspur are considering a January bid for Gakpo to bolster Antonio Conte’s attacking options.
Gakpo grabbed a goal on his World Cup debut but not everybody is a huge fan.
Pundit Ally McCoist suggested on ITV Sport (21/11, 4:44pm) that he wasn’t totally convinced by Gakpo having seen him in action four or five times.
McCoist believed there is a player in Gakpo but he’s just not fully on board yet.
“I’m not convinced,” said McCoist. “I’m sorry to say it if you want to give him the big build-up, no doubt there’s a player in there but I’ve seen him a few times, I obviously saw him in the Champions League qualifiers and things like that, so I’ve seen him maybe four or five times this season and I know there’s a player there but I’m just not 100% convinced,” he added.
Sure enough, Gakpo then popped up with the opening goal and when commentator Jon Champion asked if McCoist was having Gakpo now, the Scot simply replied ‘yes’.
This has happened to us all at some point and Gakpo made McCoist eat his words – and he could end up in the Premier League soon.
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