Cody Gakpo makes Man City transfer admission as he opens up about ‘very tough’ summer
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Empire Of The Kop or go back to LFC Live.
Cody Gakpo has opened up about a ‘very tough’ summer on and off the pitch for him as he acknowledged how close he came to leaving Liverpool for Manchester City.Enzo Maresca’s side reportedly had an agreement in place with the Dutch winger in late August, with the move ultimately blocked by Anfield chiefs in the final 24 hours of the transfer window.That drama came two months after the 27-year-old and his partner Noa van der Bij suffered the extremely traumatic experience of losing their stillborn son, which happened while the player was representing Netherlands at the World Cup.Gakpo opens up about ‘difficult summer’In an interview with The Times, Gakpo reflected on a ‘difficult summer’ and admitted that he had been ready to leave Liverpool for Man City.When Paul Joyce put it to the winger that he was ready for a new challenge after weighing up the pros and cons of the potential move to the Etihad Stadium, before the Reds informed him that they wanted to keep him, he replied that the journalist’s summer was ‘spot on’.The 27-year-old continued: “I don’t know if you want to go there because it doesn’t make any sense now to speak about this, but it was a difficult summer for me and my family, and everything surrounding football and life.“I just let it come and it ended how it ended. I cannot choose, so then I have to just try to do what I’m good at, and that’s playing football.
I can be very worried about everything that could happen, or that didn’t happen, or whatever, but that wouldn’t help the situation.“It’s a very long story. The summer was very tough regarding everything, so I just let everything be and see how it came and it worked out in this way.”(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)Want more Empire of the Kop coverage?
Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustGakpo has shown enormous strength of characterFor Gakpo to play (and score) at the World Cup just days after his personal tragedy, and to then return to Liverpool and make such a strong start to this season, shows the remarkable strength of character that he possesses.When the hand grenade of a potential transfer to a direct domestic rival is thrown into the mix, that makes it all the more admirable that he’s managed to not only focus on the task at hand in terms of playing football, but to put in a string of superb performances in recent weeks.In light of Man City being found guilty of 114 charges brought against them by the Premier League for breaching financial regulations, for the Dutchman to have gone through with the transfer may well have tainted his legacy at Anfield.Thankfully that didn’t happen and he remains a Liverpool player, with his form of late showing just why the club were right to ultimately persist with him even when their northwestern rivals had put £80m on the table to try and sign him (The Athletic).After an extremely difficult summer on a personal level, we’re glad to see Gakpo thriving on the pitch for club and country (he scored a last-minute equaliser for Netherlands against Germany on Thursday), and long may that continue to be the case.