Jurgen Klopp reveals where Cody Gakpo will play for Liverpool

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has suggested that new signing Cody Gakpo is most likely to play on the left of a front three, but has praised the 23-year-old’s versatility to fill a number of different attacking positions if needed.

The Reds have now completed a deal worth up to £50m for Gakpo, who has had a stellar 18 months at PSV Eindhoven and recently also shone at the World Cup for the Netherlands.

Manchester United had been leading the chase, but Liverpool ended up beating their Premier League rivals to what could end up being one of the biggest deals this January.

“He’s a really, really good player so the package is really interesting. That’s why we were very interested to get him in and I’m really happy we could do it,” Klopp said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that it was a ‘great day’ for all involved.

The Liverpool boss was also pleased that there wasn’t so much as a sniff of the deal publicly until it was all but over the line.

“To bring in Cody the way we did is a really good sign. Quite a few people knew about it and nothing came out which is very, very helpful,” he explained.

As for where Liverpool fans might expect to see Gakpo on the pitch, Klopp has a clear idea already.

“The position he has played most often is on the left, that is clear. But he can play all four positions up front if you play a 4-2-3-1 and is still very young. The position he probably prefers he can play is on the left of a 4-3-3,” the Liverpool boss explained.

The Reds signed Luis Diaz this time last year to play on the left, then allowing Sadio Mane to head to Bayern Munich in the summer. But the Colombian has spent much of the season sidelined through injury, with fellow forward Diogo Jota also unavailable.

Klopp insisted that the decision to sign Gakpo was not influenced by the absences of Diaz and Jota, stressing the decision to recruit was made some time ago. The only influential factor in that sense, he said, might have been the decision to do it now rather than wait until the summer.

“We decided to do something from the sports point of view without having a green light from the financial side two or three months ago. In the end because we did it early, it might have been influenced,” the boss commented.