FINALLY a (somewhat) reputable rumor linking Tottenham Hotspur to Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo. This is a rumor that’s been humming audibly in the background of the newspapers for weeks, but with the only actual “news” coming from ITK accounts and other worst possible journalistic sources. So it’s almost a relief to see this rumor finally enter the light via a tweet from (sigh) Fabrizio Romano. Say what you want about the guy, but when he posts something there’s generally a good amount of truth in it.
Great! So we have a credible rumor linking Tottenham to Cody Gakpo. So is that a good idea? Wellllllllll… that depends on who you ask. Gakpo, 27, is coming off of a season at Liverpool where he scored 7 goals and notched 5 assists in 2700 minutes. He’s been a cog in Liverpool’s machine for a while now — not the star, but a vital component in an offense that hummed under Jurgen Klopp but started to stutter under Arne Slot the past couple of seasons. To be fair to him, he’s an intelligent ball-carryer, has good movement off the ball, and is a good shooter from wide position. But he’s not particularly fast and doesn’t seem to fit the profile that we’ve been targeting in offense under Roberto De Zerbi. He’s pretty much the opposite to Manchester City’s Savinho and while the radar below is very dependent on a small sample size, it does paint a picture, doesn’t it?
Gakpo has played most recently played on the left for Liverpool, but there’s some thought that his best position might be more central at a 10 position (or even as a false 9?) and I wonder if that’s why De Zerbi and Tottenham seem to be looking so closely at him. With James Maddison likely not able to play every match, Dejan Kulusevski only now coming off of a year-plus long injury layoff, and Conor Gallager being Conor Gallagher, Spurs are crying out for a creative 10. Is that Cody Gakpo? Well, it’s not NOT Cody Gakpo but there are surely other, better options out there.
So is Cody Gakpo a good footabller? Sure. He’s certainly better (right now) than Mathys Tel and would improve Spurs’ front line, something that we all know is pretty needed. But he has four years left on his current deal, Liverpool are hurting for attackers at the moment, and it’s suggested that they would demand around £70-75m to let him go, which puts him in my mind very much in the Sandro Tonali Zone — a good player that is a decent “oven ready” upgrade for Spurs’ front line, but one that would be a vast overpay for a player of his age and current ability. It’s not that he’s BAD, but this feels very uninspiring, and a ton of money for a player with little resale value and that we’ll be moving on from in 2-3 years anyway. It’s an okay transfer, but it’s not the least bit interesting or encouraging about Tottenham’s future development.
If Gakpo is brought in alongside Savinho, another mooted Tottenham offensive signing, it’s a decent cog-in-the-machine transfer (if a bad financial deal). If he’s brought in as an alternate to Savinho and for £70m, I start to wonder a) how much upside there is in this potential deal, b) why we seem so dead set on only looking at Premier League footballers this summer, and c) why we didn’t sack Johan Lange 12 months ago.