Cody Gakpo cut something of a frustrating and frustrated figure for Liverpool in 2025-26, with his goal involvement rate plummeting to a goal or assist every 240 minutes on the pitch after being truly elite by that metric in 2024-25 with a goal or assist every 108 minutes.
His tendency to overplay the ball, to ignore his overlapping fullback, and to cut inside and blast a shot straight into the first defender became a millstone around his neck. An unwelcome meme of a move and almost a stand-in of sorts
for so many of the larger frustrations people had about the season.
Yet Gakpo’s career averages, both in top line numbers and by the underlying metrics, have him as a better player than someone like Anthony Gordon, who earned a big money move from Newcastle to Barcelona this summer. So it’s perhaps not surprising that if Liverpool are willing to sell there would be takers.
It also wouldn’t perhaps be surprising if Gakpo himself might want out given the toxicity around last season—and that he often was the player who received the brunt of it.
With that as the foundation, so far this summer Gakpo has been regularly been linked with a move to Tottehham, and over the past week there have been whispers of possible Manchester City interest as well—though no reliable source has been willing to lend serious credence to the latter.
Those Spurs rumours, though, have been moved to the backburner over the past week, and with Tottenham busy signing other attackers some had begun to wonder if the window for a Gakpo transfer had closed. It appears it has not, with the latest from Spurs-connected Alex Crook today being that they’re still trying to sign him.
From Liverpool’s point of view it’s a transfer that could only be considered if Bradley Barcola arrives, which is itself a deal that has been given a boost over the past 24 hours.
Yet even then, some will wonder at the wisdom of selling a player who even in a clearly terrible down-season last year had far better underlying numbers and a better goal return than some of the forwards the Reds have been linked with big money moves for so far this summer.
While most would see Barcola as a one-for-one upgrade, many of Liverpool’s struggles last year stemmed from the sale of Luis Diaz and failure to replace him. Meanwhile, the forward most linked with Liverpool aside from Barcola at the moment is Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh. Minteh had a goal involvement every 350 minutes last season.
Swapping Gakpo for Barcola might make the Reds slightly stronger when are able to field their best eleven. It won’t do anything to solve the depth issues that plagued the Reds last season after sporting director Richard Hughes sold everything not nailed down to fund a few big money moves.
