Jürgen Klopp has just been offered 30 reasons by Cody Gakpo to continue Liverpool’s transfer overhaul.

Cody Gakpo has yet to come to grips with life as a midfielder. The Dutchman is a solid player but he has a big department to improve on.

Cody Gakpo faces a tough challenge this month in his first two rounds in the Premier League. Jürgen Klopp has so far taken four points from his duels against Chelsea and Bournemouth, and in those games he has used Gakpo as a midfielder rather than a striker.

The Dutchman was deployed as the number eight left wing in the two games, largely due to a lack of options in the engine room at the moment. Since Klopp approved the surprise departures of both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho this summer, he has so far only replaced the pair with Wataru Endo, who only signed on the dotted line on Friday.

Additionally, Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajčetić are currently recovering from injuries, with Gakpo forced to play as a makeshift midfielder to fill his boss’s void. The 24-year-old talent performed admirably but seemed to have an obvious weakness in his game.

Simply put, Gakpo is not used to touching the ball often. As a striker, he was used to being involved in the last third before creating chances or scoring a goal for PSV Eindhoven – his former club – which explains why he sometimes found himself a little uncomfortable when he had to offer himself as a a factor constant. possibility of moving to Anfield. Against Chelsea in the opening weekend, he amassed a total of just 10 completions in 65 minutes before being replaced by Curtis Jones, who then completed 15 in just 25 minutes on the pitch. No player who started the game completed fewer passes than Gakpo, which is quite incredible considering his position in the center of the park.

Liverpool hosted Bournemouth at Anfield this weekend. Klopp again made the decision to use Gakpo as number eight – with Jones sidelined with an ankle problem – but despite the Reds winning 3-1, the same problem arose. The Dutch international had just 20 completed passes this time around, again the fewest for a player in the red. Gakpo has played a total of 127 minutes in England’s top flight this season and is averaging just 21 assists per 90 minutes. It’s far too early to judge numbers as the sample size is simply too small to be reliable, but its average is very low for a midfielder in a dominant team.

To illustrate, Dominik Szoboszlai has averaged 50 out of 90 successful passes in an identical role on the right flank, and it’s also worth noting that he’s a new signing, having arrived from RB Leipzig earlier this summer. Jones, who could return in the coming weeks, averaged 53 out of 90 assists last season in the Premier League.

Gakpo is generally a positive contributor and his ceiling is undeniably high, but if he is to continue playing in the middle of the park he will need to give the Reds more control by getting on the ball more often and finding his teammates with accurate passing .
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Speaking to AD last season, Gakpo spoke about his gradual evolution to become more of a center-of-the-park midfielder.

“Guus Hiddink was the first to mention the change,” he said. \”He was at PSV for a while as a sounding board. I didn’t want to believe it then. And not even when Roger Schmidt later said the same thing to PSV. I was more stubborn than now and felt good on the left wing. But at the last World Cup I was already more central on the pitch and at Liverpool also permanently in the last six months. I’m just more excited to improve at that place in the near future.”

“He’s been playing number eight pretty much all preseason,” said his manager, Klopp, when asked about his performance this weekend. “Players can play in different positions in modern football. Not even Szoboszlai played in that position for his old club. The role suits him.

Klopp might be right, but based on his past performances, Gakpo seems like a striker who receives the ball less often but poses a real threat whenever he’s involved. He certainly has the quality to develop as a midfielder, but his obscurity perhaps offers a glimpse of Liverpool’s need to continue their top-flight rebuilding work.

The engine room renovation is nearing completion with the additions of Endo, Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister this summer. However, more reinforcements are needed if Klopp really wants to challenge on all fronts this season.