Cody Gakpo is 25 years old, has played in the World Cup for Netherlands and is starring for a Liverpool team on track to win major silverware this season, but even that hasn’t been enough for his father to get off his case!
In two years since coming to Anfield from PSV Eindhoven, the forward has a respectable tally of 37 goals in 111 appearances (exactly one every three games). His double against Ipswich on Saturday took him to 14 for the season, making him the Reds’ outright second-highest scorer for the campaign behind Mo Salah.
Ask almost any LFC supporter and they’d tell you that he’s been superb throughout his time on Merseyside, becoming just the 13th player in the club’s history to score in six consecutive appearances at Anfield, but there’s one particular critic who’s especially difficult to satisfy.
Gakpo opens up about his father’s tough love
In a feature for The Player’s Tribune, Gakpo revealed how, after one average performance last season, he was summoned outside by his father for extra practice on a rainy night as soon as he returned home.
The 25-year-old wrote: “Dad is a character. He’s… well, he does things his way. I remember I came home from a match last season, and I didn’t have a great performance. Not bad, just not great.
“It was one of those cold, rainy Liverpool days, and all I wanted to do when I got home was chill, but my dad wasn’t having it.
“Before I even got my shoes off, he said, “Son. Outside.” I said, “Huh?” He said, “In the garden. Let’s go.“ So I grabbed a ball, and we went out into the garden. It was already dark, and it was still raining.
“Any error I made, we repeated the exact situation, just like how we used to practice when I was a kid. He said, “OK, I’ll be Salah.” and he ran over to the right wing and recreated the same scenario from the game. “OK, let’s do it right this time.”
“I am not being funny! This is real. He does this all the time. I’ll come home after a Champions League game, and Dad will be waiting. “Ah, you have some time for me today?” I say, “Yes, yes, come“, and then we go to my garden and practise some mistake I made 10, 20 times, until I can do it with my eyes closed.”
Keep it up, Cody!
Gakpo’s anecdote shows that even an elite footballer earning £120,000 per week at one of the biggest clubs in world football can be kept on a tight leash by his father. Judging by the 25-year-old’s performances for Liverpool, though, his dad’s tough love approach seems to be having the desired effect!
In the same article, the Netherlands international revealed how, when it came to moving to England, he left his choice of club to divine guidance based on how many goals he scored, and how the decision of the Eredivisie’s equivalent of a dubious goals committee prevented him from joining Leeds rather than the Reds a couple of years ago.
With the Yorkshire club suffering relegation a few months later, there’s a large element of serendipity to how the Dutchman ended up at Anfield, but we’re just glad that fate led him to Merseyside rather than Yorkshire.
We highly doubt that a player of his quality would’ve stuck around in the Championship, with all due respect to the English second tier, but such are the sliding doors moments which can define a footballer’s career and ultimately led Gakpo towards Liverpool.
If his dad feels that our number 18 could benefit from a few more back garden kickabouts, we’re all for it… so long as Cody is fit and firing when it comes to matchday!
