Cody Gakpo made only his third Liverpool start of the season when lining up at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday
There were few forwards more impressive than Cody Gakpo at the European Championship this summer. The casual observer, then, would be confused seeing the Holland international regularly on the bench this season for Liverpool.
Former Reds striker Dean Saunders, though, believes it is a encouraging sign of the strength in depth at the disposal of new Anfield head coach Arne Slot – even if Gakpo has been somewhat unfortunate not to feature more regularly.
Gakpo was handed his first Premier League start of the campaign on Saturday at Crystal Palace and provided the assist from which Diogo Jota scored the only goal early on.
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On the two other occasions the 25-year-old has been named in the starting line-up for Liverpool this season, he set up a goal for Dominik Szoboszlai in the 3-1 Champions League win at AC Milan and then scored twice in the 5-1 League Cup romp at home to West Ham United.
And Saunders – a one-time Liverpool record signing when moving from Derby County for £2.9million in 1991 – is confident Gakpo will eventually show his talent under Slot.
“Gakpo has been unlucky at Liverpool but he was good at the Euros,” he said. “There’s always been a question mark as to whether he’s good enough to play – bearing in mind he walked into a front three which was the best in the world in terms of Mane, Salah and Firmino.
“Jota has come in alongside Nunez who looks a handful and there’s a player in there. He has a knack of missing chances but there’s a player there.
“And then there’s Diaz who replaced Mane. Diaz has bided his time to show his class and has done so by working hard. You could never say Diaz doesn’t work hard enough. Now he’s got five or six goals and he’s playing out of his skin.”
Speaking to bettingexpert.com, Saunders added: “As a manager myself I know how difficult it is to find centre forwards who score goals and run towards goal without the ball. Same with wide players. Loads want it to feet. Salah, Mane and Diaz will do that and hopefully Gakpo will slot in eventually and show his class.
“To have someone like Gakpo struggling to get into the Liverpool team is a good sign and at Liverpool the forwards are queuing up to get into the team.”
