# Cody Gakpo, Andoni Iraola, and the Case for Staying Put at Anfield
Liverpool’s summer has been dominated by noise around Cody Gakpo’s future, yet the man now in charge of deciding his role could not have sounded more convinced about keeping him around. Andoni Iraola, installed as the club’s new head coach after Arne Slot’s exit, used his pre-Newcastle press conference to deliver one of the clearest votes of confidence any Liverpool player has received all summer, and it happened to be aimed squarely at the Dutchman whose exit has been treated in some quarters as a formality. Rather than talk around the speculation, Iraola leaned into it, describing a player who has grasped the demands of his new system almost instantly and who has quietly been one of the standout performers across preseason.
That alone would be a notable story given how persistently Gakpo’s name has been attached to Tottenham this summer. But Iraola went further, opening the door to something that could reshape how Liverpool’s attack functions for the rest of the campaign: the possibility of using Gakpo centrally, as an out-and-out number nine, in the matches where Alexander Isak needs a rest or cannot go. With Hugo Ekitike sidelined for a lengthy spell and Isak the only senior, established striker on the books, that is not a hypothetical exercise in squad depth. It is a real operational question that Iraola has clearly already been thinking through, and by his own account, one he has already discussed directly with Gakpo.
To understand why this matters so much, it helps to rewind to how Gakpo arrived at this point. He signed for Liverpool from PSV Eindhoven in January 2023 as a versatile forward capable of playing across the front line, someone who had operated as a central striker for the Dutch national team at a World Cup and looked entirely comfortable doing it. At Anfield, though, he was gradually funnelled into a wide left role, first as competition and then eventually as the long-term successor to some of the more explosive attacking talents Jürgen Klopp had assembled. Under Klopp, he still got a reasonable amount of time through the middle, filling in when needed and offering a different profile to a more traditional number nine: aerially dominant, comfortable holding the ball up, capable of linking play rather than simply running in behind. Arne Slot, when he arrived, appeared to prefer him fixed on the left, and that is largely where Gakpo spent last season, a campaign that, by his own admission and by the assessment of much of the fanbase, did not hit the heights of the one before it.
The numbers back up the sense that last season was a mixed one. Gakpo managed nine goals in all competitions, a reasonable if unspectacular return, a drop from the eighteen he scored the previous year, a tally that had actually outstripped Luis Diaz across the same period. Liverpool’s attack as a whole struggled for fluency for large stretches of the campaign, and Gakpo was an easy target for criticism given his position and profile, even though the issues ran far deeper than any single player. A team that lacked cohesion and speed in the final third does not solve its problems by scapegoating one forward, and plenty of observers have made the point that Gakpo’s underwhelming output last season reflected a broader malaise rather than a personal decline. Still, perception matters in football, and by the time this transfer window opened, a narrative had calcified: Gakpo was expendable, a useful squad piece rather than a first-choice starter, and if a substantial offer arrived from a club like Tottenham, Liverpool would be sensible to cash in and reinvest.
That narrative gained real momentum once names like Bradley Barcola and other wide players were consistently linked with moves to Anfield. The logic seemed straightforward enough: bring in fresh legs on the flanks, and the make way effect pushes Gakpo toward the exit, particularly with Tottenham reportedly willing to put together a significant package and Dutch reporting suggesting Gakpo himself would be open to the move. There have been indications from various outlets that Liverpool’s hierarchy, and even Iraola personally, would be comfortable sanctioning a sale provided suitable cover arrived first. None of that has evaporated simply because of one press conference. The transfer window remains open for another ten days or so, and speculation of this intensity rarely dies quietly. But what Iraola said this week complicates the simple story that Gakpo is already halfway out the door.
Asked directly about where Gakpo stands, Iraola did not hedge. He described a player who has adapted to the demands of his new role from the very first day of training, someone who grasps tactical instruction quickly and who has stood out as one of the squad’s most impressive performers throughout preseason friendlies. He was careful, as any manager would be, not to confirm a starting lineup that his own players do not yet know. But the underlying message was unmistakable: this is a player in excellent form, mentally engaged, and firmly part of his plans rather than a name being quietly moved on. For a manager barely a few weeks into the job, that is a significant show of faith, and it is difficult to square with the idea that Liverpool are simply waiting for the right bid to wave him off.
The more tactically interesting part of Iraola’s comments, though, concerned Gakpo’s potential use as a central striker. Because of Ekitike’s long-term injury, Isak is currently the only senior recognised number nine at the club, with young forward Will Wright picking up minutes during preseason but not someone Iraola would realistically lean on for regular Premier League football. That leaves a thin margin for error. Isak cannot be expected to feature in every single match, especially given his own fitness history, including a fractured fibula suffered against Tottenham the previous December. Managing his workload across a long season that includes European football will require rotation, and rotation requires somebody capable of stepping into the most demanding attacking role on the pitch without the team losing its shape or its cutting edge.
This is where Iraola’s comments about Gakpo’s history become relevant. He pointed out that this is not new territory for the player, that he has operated as a nine in previous situations and done so effectively, and that the two of them have already had direct conversations about carving out minutes for him in that position going forward. Iraola was careful to frame this within the context of preseason priorities. Because Liverpool have been light on natural wide options during the buildup to the campaign, the coaching staff made a deliberate choice to spend that limited preparation time bedding Gakpo into his primary role on the left, ensuring he fully understands what is required of him there before experimenting elsewhere. That is a sensible approach from a coach still assembling his first competitive matchday squad, but it does not mean the central option has been shelved. If anything, Iraola’s phrasing suggested the opposite: that this is an idea he intends to activate as the season unfolds and situations demand it, rather than a passing thought raised only because a reporter asked the question.
There is a broader tactical logic here worth unpacking. Iraola built his reputation at Bournemouth on a high-energy, aggressive pressing system that consistently pushed his side up the table across three progressively better Premier League finishes, culminating in a run that flirted with European qualification. His teams have generally been built around getting forwards into dangerous, overloaded areas and finding quick combinations in the final third, with wide players and strikers interchanging fluidly rather than sticking rigidly to textbook positions. A forward like Gakpo, comfortable both wide and centrally, with the physical profile to hold up play and bring others into the game, fits that kind of system well precisely because he offers positional flexibility rather than a single, fixed skill set. Isak, by contrast, is a different kind of number nine: quick in behind, elegant on the ball, but not primarily a target man in the way Gakpo can be when needed. Having two contrasting profiles able to lead the line gives Iraola tactical options depending on the opponent, the scoreline, and the physical condition of his squad at any given point in a gruelling campaign.
It is also worth noting how Iraola talked about Isak in the same breath as he discussed Gakpo, because it reveals something about his broader approach to man-management and tactical instruction. Rather than focusing purely on goal output, Iraola explained that much of his work with Isak so far has centred on off-the-ball positioning: how the Swede can create space for teammates through smart movement rather than simply looking to finish chances himself. He was explicit that he does not want to judge his strikers purely on whether they are scoring in any given match, a philosophy that suggests a coach thinking about the attack as an interconnected system rather than a collection of individuals waiting for service. Within that framework, a versatile forward capable of sliding between wide and central roles becomes even more valuable, because it allows the team to maintain its attacking principles regardless of which specific personnel are on the pitch.
None of this guarantees Gakpo will stay beyond the closing days of the transfer window. Football finances have a habit of overriding footballing logic, and if Tottenham or another suitor were to table an offer Liverpool’s hierarchy considered too good to turn down, particularly with replacement targets like Barcola reportedly still on the radar, a sale could still happen regardless of how positively Iraola speaks about him in public. Managers praising a player during an active transfer saga is hardly unprecedented, and clubs have long used calm, complimentary language publicly while conducting entirely different conversations in private. Skepticism about taking press conference quotes at face value is reasonable, especially in the current climate where transfer speculation moves fast and reporting from multiple credible outlets continues to suggest Liverpool would sanction a departure under the right circumstances.
Even so, there was something in the tone and detail of Iraola’s comments that felt different from a standard diplomatic answer designed to avoid unsettling a player before a ball has been kicked competitively. Managers who are quietly planning to sell a squad member rarely go out of their way to discuss specific tactical plans for using him in an entirely different position, particularly not with the level of detail Iraola offered about prior conversations regarding minutes as a central striker. That level of specificity suggests genuine planning rather than diplomatic padding. It suggests a coach who sees Gakpo as a multi-functional piece of his attacking puzzle for the season ahead, not simply a name waiting to be moved off the books once a suitable bid lands.
There is also the matter of timing. This press conference came just before Liverpool’s opening Premier League fixture of the new season away at Newcastle, a ground where matches against Iraola’s former assistants and rivals always carry an extra edge, and a fixture where Gakpo himself has a strong individual record, having contributed directly to goals in the majority of his previous meetings with Newcastle. If Iraola genuinely viewed Gakpo as a fringe figure on his way out, it would have been simple enough to give a vague, non-committal answer about squad depth and move on to safer topics like the opposition or his own managerial appointment. Instead, he chose to engage substantively with the question, praising Gakpo’s application in training, describing him as one of the standout performers of preseason, and outlining a specific tactical role he could occupy when circumstances demand it. That is not the language of a manager clearing the runway for an exit.
For Liverpool supporters who have watched the Gakpo transfer saga unfold with a mixture of resignation and mild indifference, largely shaped by a disappointing individual campaign last season, these comments offer a reason to reconsider. A player who has shown he can score heavily when given a consistent run of games, who offers a genuine alternative profile to the club’s most important striker, and who has apparently impressed a new coaching staff building an entirely new system from scratch, is not obviously a player Liverpool should be desperate to offload. Iraola’s willingness to discuss him as a future option at number nine, layered on top of praise for his adaptability and understanding of the game, paints a picture of a squad member being actively integrated into long-term planning rather than politely tolerated until a buyer appears.
Whether that translates into Gakpo actually starting at St James’ Park, or indeed staying at Anfield beyond the first day of September, remains to be seen. Transfer windows have a way of making fools of anyone who speaks with too much certainty about a player’s future while a deal is still theoretically possible. But based on what Iraola chose to say, and just as importantly what he chose not to say, the assumption that Gakpo’s Liverpool career is winding down looks considerably shakier than it did before this press conference. A coach who talks this specifically about deploying a player centrally to ease the burden on his most important attacking asset is not a coach preparing to wave that player off. For now, at least, Cody Gakpo looks less like makeweight in a summer clear-out and more like a genuine tactical asset in Andoni Iraola’s opening season at the helm.