Boxing Day will reunite Cody Gakpo along with his former PSV Eindhoven supervisor in Ruud van Nistelrooy, with the Leicester boss having loved his ridiculous kind.
Gakpo might begin once more at Anfield on Thursday night time, with Arne Slot in a position to name upon a well-rested squad with 4 days between fixtures.
If he does, the Dutch ahead will come up in opposition to a former coach in Van Nistelrooy, with the brand new Leicester supervisor having labored with him whereas in cost at PSV.
Van Nistelrooy was within the dugout on the time of Gakpo’s January change to Anfield, with the 25-year-old having moved to Merseyside on the again of a surprising half-season in Eindhoven.
Having taken over at PSV from the beginning of the 2022/23 marketing campaign, the previous Man United striker relied closely upon Gakpo on the left wing.
In 24 video games within the first half of that season, Gakpo scored 13 objectives and laid on an extra 17 assists – a complete of 30 aim contributions.
He averaged a aim or help each 65.3 minutes and solely failed to attain or tee up a teammate in three of his 14 appearances within the Eredivisie.
That helped persuade Jurgen Klopp and particularly Pepijn Lijnders to push for a deal to convey Gakpo to Liverpool mid-season, having additionally seen him shine with three objectives 5 video games for the Netherlands on the winter World Cup.
Liverpool paid £37 million for his companies, with Klopp of the idea that they’d be out-priced in the event that they waited any longer to clinch a deal.
And in 104 appearances since, Gakpo has scored 32 instances and assisted one other 12 for the Reds which, although removed from his prolific finest below Van Nistelrooy at PSV, has made him a key participant for each Klopp and now Arne Slot.
Van Nistelrooy was compelled to disclaim faux studies quickly after Gakpo’s change to Liverpool that he had “refused his recommendation” to attend for his “dream transfer” to Man United.
Nevertheless, former United teammate Gary Neville went on to say that the brand new Leicester supervisor had disagreed with Klopp’s use of the ahead, claiming he advised him “he’s a left winger, that’s it.”
“I went to talk to Ruud simply after [Gakpo] first obtained to Liverpool and he was struggling a bit of bit,” Neville defined on Follow Soccer again in July.
“And I stated to him ‘what about Gakpo?’, as a result of clearly United have been taking a look at him.
“He stated ‘he’s a left winger, that’s it’. So when Klopp was taking part in him like false 9 or centre-forward or a bit deeper in midfield at instances, Ruud stated he had him there at PSV and was completely a left winger.”
Slot clearly agrees along with his fellow coach, with Gakpo now taking part in solely on the left.
