Cody Gakpo's Shift from Transfer Target to Key Player for Liverpool
Liverpool’s summer of hard decisions has left Cody Gakpo right at the heart of Andoni Iraola’s plans – not on a private jet to Manchester.
For weeks, the Dutch forward looked like the big sale that would bankroll the next phase of Liverpool’s rebuild. Fresh from an impressive World Cup with the Netherlands and a sharp start to the 2026/27 season, Gakpo drew serious attention. Liverpool, open to a deal under strict conditions, listened.
Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur did more than that. They stepped forward with money.
City, needing a replacement for Savio in the final days of the window, pushed hardest. The financial framework was in place. According to Dutch outlet Dagblad, Liverpool and Gakpo had an understanding over the terms that would allow him to leave. Both City and Spurs were prepared to hit a package of around €100 million. From there, Gakpo made his choice: he wanted City.
Then the door slammed shut.
Dagblad reported that, despite the agreement and City’s willingness to pay, Liverpool pulled the plug. The move, described as a “complete surprise” in the Netherlands, collapsed late. No City. No Spurs. No alternative exit. “It now appears that there will definitely be no other deal,” the outlet concluded.
Gakpo, aware of how close he had come to leaving, then held talks with the club’s owners on Tuesday, described as partly to “clear the air”. For a player who had mentally prepared for a blockbuster move, the conversation mattered.
Out of that wreckage, a new plan has emerged.
From sale asset to central pillar
Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke reports that Liverpool now expect Gakpo to play a “key” role for the rest of the season. Not a rotation option. Not a makeweight. A central figure.
The logic is simple: Liverpool didn’t sign a replacement and realised they could not afford to lose his flexibility across the frontline and deeper roles. In Iraola’s high-energy, fluid system, that matters.
“Gakpo will be a key player for Liverpool this season, definitely,” O’Rourke said, pointing to the way the forward has already started to deliver. He scored against Newcastle on the opening weekend and followed it with a smart assist against Nottingham Forest, early evidence that he is more than just a name on a balance sheet.
He can play off the left. He can operate centrally. He can drop into pockets and link play. That versatility, O’Rourke stressed, is “the key” to why Liverpool ultimately refused to cash in.
The club did not ignore City’s approach. They weighed it. They recognised it as “top dollar” for a player they had once been willing to sell. But the final call went the other way. Iraola, by all accounts, did not want to lose him and made that stance clear.
So a saga that flirted with a nine-figure transfer fee ends with something very different: a manager backing his Dutch forward to drive Liverpool’s season, and a player who now has to turn a blocked move into a defining campaign at Anfield.
