Liverpool’s £37m attacker tipped for a ‘completely different’ role in defence

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Former Netherlands striker Pierre van Hooijdonk has surprisingly suggested that Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo should have been fielded in a new-look right-back role during the 6-0 Euro 2024 qualification victory over Gibraltar. 

Now, Liverpool’s former PSV Eindhoven star is certainly a footballer who would label versatility as one of his strengths.

But asking Cody Gakpo to go from the left-wing to right-back? That’s almost like requiring Daniel Day Lewis to act opposite Adam Sandler and Kevin James in some cringe-inducing screwball comedy, Van Hooijdonk keen to test the limits of Gakpo’s tactical flexibility against a Gibraltar side hit for 14 by France just three days earlier. 

Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo features in Netherlands win

“This is an excellent opportunity to give people playing time and things to do,” the former Celtic and Nottingham Forest striker tells NOS. 

“I would have liked to see, if you play 4-3-3, that you deploy Gakpo as a right-back, to do something completely different.”

In Van Hooijdonk’s defence, this suggestion is not quite as mad as it first seems.

The Netherlands, after all, dominated 80 per cent of the possession against Gibraltar and did not concede even a single shot on goal. Gakpo, who come off the bench during an eventual 6-0 win, would likely have spent much of the evening camped in the final third, even if the team sheet would show the Liverpool ace playing in a role alien even to a man who has thrived in a variety of different positions over the last 12 months or so. 

Where is Gakpo at his best?

Gakpo earned himself a £37 million move to Anfield after scoring three times as a number nine at the Qatar World Cup, Dutch icon Rafael van der Vaart labelling – alongside RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons and PSV’s Noa Lang – ‘the future’ of the national team. 

“I’ve said it before, those three (Xavi, Lang and Gakpo) have a lot of potential,” the former Real Madrid, Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur star tells De Telegraaf.

“Maybe the European Championships in Germany (in 2024) will come a little too early for them to really peak. But, in the long term, things look really good for these guys. As far as I’m concerned, they really form the future of the Dutch team.”