Cody Gakpo breaks silence on failed move to Manchester City | OneFootball

Cody Gakpo opens up on collapsed Manchester City move after Liverpool revival

Cody Gakpo has admitted he endured a “very tough” summer as speculation over a move from Liverpool to Manchester City intensified before ultimately collapsing.

The Netherlands forward was reportedly a major target for Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola’s side said to have been prepared to spend up to £85m on the Liverpool attacker. Tottenham Hotspur were also interested, but Liverpool eventually decided that Gakpo was too important to lose as the transfer window approached its conclusion.

For Gakpo, however, football was only one part of a deeply difficult period away from the pitch.

Cody Gakpo reflects on difficult summer

Gakpo and his partner, Noa van der Bij, suffered the loss of their second son during pregnancy earlier in the summer. Speaking about the period, the Liverpool forward explained that he had little choice but to concentrate on what he could control.

“I don’t know if you want to go there because it doesn’t make any sense now to speak about this,” Gakpo said. “But it was a difficult summer for me and my family, and everything surrounding football and life.

“I just let it come and it ended how it ended. I cannot choose. So then I have to just try to do what I’m good at, and that’s playing football.

“I can be very worried about everything that could happen, or that didn’t happen, or whatever, but that wouldn’t help the situation.

“Some things are out of our hands, and we have to do the things we can control to the best of our ability. That’s the only thing I can do.

“I just want to enjoy my life with my family and friends, and my life playing football with my team-mates (with the Netherlands) and at the club.”

Photo: IMAGO

Liverpool forward responds to criticism

Gakpo has also reflected on the criticism he received during a disappointing campaign at Liverpool last season.

The 27-year-old accepts that expectations at Anfield leave little room for prolonged underperformance, particularly when results and individual displays fall below the required standard.

“I don’t know, because if you are at a big club like Liverpool, you need to perform.

“I don’t want to speak about somebody else or other players but, me, I know I could do much better than I did last year.

“So, I don’t know if it’s unfair. Maybe it was. But I get it from one point because at Liverpool, you need to win, you need to perform, you need to show that you are one of the best clubs in the world. We didn’t do that last year – me included.”

Gakpo thriving under Andoni Iraola

The early evidence under new Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola suggests Gakpo has responded positively.

He has scored twice and supplied four assists in six appearances, establishing himself as one of Liverpool’s most productive attacking players during the opening stages of the campaign.

His latest contribution came for the Netherlands, when Gakpo scored a stoppage time equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Germany.