Arne Slot will select a much-changed Liverpool line-up for tonight’s Champions League clash against PSV Eindhoven, but one familiar name is pleading for a runout at the Philips Stadion.
With the Reds already assured of a top-two finish in this competition and facing a tough visit to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday, a number of first-team regulars have sensibly been omitted from the travelling party to the Netherlands.
Among those who have made the trip is Cody Gakpo, who’s yearning to be selected against the club that he left to join LFC just over two years ago.
Gakpo pleads with Slot for ‘some minutes’ against PSV
The 25-year-old spoke to the media on Tuesday, and he revealed that he declined the opportunity of a midweek breather in favour of a return to his former stomping ground.
The forward said (via liverpoolfc.com): “I got the question from the manager [about staying at home] as well but I didn’t play one minute against Lille last week [and] also from the manager’s point of view [he knew] that I would probably like to come over here and get some minutes here. That’s why I’m here.”
In what seems to be a thinly veiled message towards Slot, Gakpo added that he’s ‘looking forward to being on the pitch’ in Eindhoven tonight.
Slot must strike a delicate balance with Gakpo
It’s most understandable that Liverpool’s number 18 will be keen to avail of the rare opportunity to come up against his former club, and having opted in for the fixture, he won’t want to be left on the bench for 90 minutes.
However, given his importance to the team (second-highest scorer this season) and the lack of any jeopardy for the Reds tonight, we’d implore Slot to prioritise the bigger picture and omit the 25-year-old from the starting line-up, especially with Bournemouth coming up on Saturday.
The absence of Luis Diaz from the travelling squad leaves one fewer left-sided option for LFC to avail of, but perhaps we might see Federico Chiesa deployed on that flank, or maybe even a first-team debut for under-21 starlet Trent Kone-Doherty.
Nonetheless, Gakpo will likely feature at some stage in the match – the big decision for the Liverpool boss is how much time to give him, considering the far greater challenges which lie ahead.
