Cody Gakpo on Liverpool transfers, injury setbacks and honouring Diogo Jota

Yahoo

3 days ago

Like the rest of his Liverpool team-mates, Cody Gakpo was enjoying an end-of-season holiday when he learned of Diogo Jota's death. The Reds star was in the south of France, with his partner Noa to celebrate her 25th birthday, when the horrendous news filtered through.
Jota was UK-bound in the early hours of Thursday July 3, travelling to a ferry terminal in Zamora, northern Spain, when he was involved in a fatal car accident alongside his brother Andre Silva.
The hours and days that followed were bewildering and painful. Plans were hurriedly put in place for the majority of the squad to return from their vacations and fly to Portugal, as a club unified in grief and shock, to where Jota and Andre were to be buried.
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By the morning of Saturday, July 5, Jota and his younger sibling were laid to rest following a service at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar (the Mother Church of Gondomar), where the Bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, spoke at length to the famous faces in attendance about how much both men meant to the modest municipality.
Alongside The Athletic, the ECHO sat down with Gakpo at Liverpool's team hotel in Japan on their pre-season tour, to gain a sense of just what the days that followed after Jota's unimaginably tragic death were truly like inside the camp.
At the time of writing in Asia, it's just less than a month since the sudden passing of the popular Portuguese and with a club still in mourning, Gakpo is the first player of Arne Slot's Premier League title winners to detail exactly how it has been for the Reds' players in the days and weeks that have followed.
On Monday, Liverpool will play host to two friendlies with Spanish side Athletic in the first fixtures back at the venue since Jota's passing and it promises to be a searingly emotional day once more, as everyone connected to the club continues to grieve.
"It's been very difficult, for obvious reasons," Gakpo says. "I think a lot of us were still on vacation when the situation happened and we came together as a team and as a club as soon as possible.
"We tried to be there as much as we could at that moment for the family and together as a team to help wherever we could. We still try to do that and everyone is still busy a bit more behind the scenes than what is in the news, to reach out and help as much as possible.
"The family of Diogo, hopefully, felt the love we have for them and for Diogo and his brother. But yeah, you could see how we try to act as a club and a team, the supporters as well, the whole city, every football fan, that we as Liverpool try to be a family."
Those with knowledge of the last month at Anfield say Netherlands international Gakpo has been a tower of strength, tapping into his deep faith and stoically providing comfort and support for those who have needed it.
Liverpool are continuing to have dialogue over how best to honour Jota and after opening a book of condolences at Anfield in the immediate aftermath and freeing up greenspace for supporters to lay down their floral and gaming-inspired tributes outside the stadium, it was announced that the No.20 shirt was to be retired in his honour last month.
A sculpture has since been commissioned, while the players themselves will display their own message through a specially-made 'Forever 20' emblem on the brand new Adidas kit, which was officially launched on Friday morning.
It's all part of the process of remembering and honouring their friend and team-mate, who did so much to help bring home the Premier League trophy last season with some important goals and performances.
Liverpool first returned to action after Jota's death on July 13, when they were hosted by Preston North End in a pre-season friendly. It was initially unclear if the game would go ahead and it proved to be a touching afternoon at Deepdale as the travelling support sang the famous terrace anthem reserved for Jota throughout the day in Lancashire, most notably at full-time in front of the players who thanked fans for their backing during such a traumatic period.
Gakpo says: "I think [the emblem] is the least we can do. Obviously him, as a player, he was an outstanding player but him as a person was even more wonderful. Like he was such a great person with everyone, everyone loved him and that is also what you saw with how everyone reacted.
"So yeah, I think it was more to remember who he was to us. Not as a player - because a player I think we can see the highlights on YouTube but more as the person he was. He will be missed this season but he will be missed by us, this club, this team and his family, for the rest of our lives.
"The Preston game was emotional and yes, the song, I think we could play that song for 10 more days! It was beautiful and it showed once again the great character of our fanbase and we appreciate that, for sure."
Last season was arguably Gakpo's best since joining from PSV Eindhoven in a deal worth around £40m in January 2023. The Oranje international scored 18 goals across all competitions, which was a tally only bettered by Mohamed Salah.
Ten of those goals came in the Premier League and while an ankle injury disrupted progress around February time for a number of weeks, Gakpo was pleased with his overall efforts during a famous campaign that saw a 20th title brought home.
"It was my best return so far but me as a player and as a person I always strive to do better and do more," he says. "Hopefully this year is going to be a better one. I am just trying to get more goals and more assists.
"It was an ankle injury and it was difficult and I tried to come back as quickly as possible because we had some important game but unfortunately I had a setback again in training and then it took longer to get into the rhythm again and get confidence when you are in duels or shooting on target with the ankle and you are maybe not as confident at that time.
"So that was not nice for the rhythm where I was before but this is also a part of football and you have to overcome it, so I think the last games of the season went better for my ankle, I didn't feel it as much before. So I think now we just have to start the season fit and move."
Liverpool's forward line is undergoing something of a major transition this summer. Luis Diaz has been sold to Bayern Munich and speculation persists around Darwin Nunez and Federico Chiesa, while teenage winger Rio Ngumoha has caught the eye so far this pre-season.
Hugo Ekitike has arrived to the tune of £79m from Eintracht Frankfurt, while the club broke their transfer record to land Florian Wirtz from Bayern Munich in a deal that could eventually be worth £116m. Meanwhile Alexander Isak of Newcastle United was the subject of a £110m bid, which was rejected by the Magpies. It's unlikely to be the end of the saga.
Gakpo says he is relishing the chance to step up his seniority inside a rapidly changing frontline department and admits the club's transfer activity this summer cannot be seen as anything other than a serious show of ambition for the coming years.
"I think those things are always in a process," he says. "You come to the club and settle in and everyone does it in their own time and some players it is very fast and some players it takes a little bit more time.
"But I think after last season, which all the factors played in favour of our team and the slight changes of position for myself as well, I think we can build on that and become even better than we were last season and we can achieve even more.
"I don't know how else we can see this otherwise, you know? If you have spent a good amount of money on quality players - this is only for one reason and that is to compete for every competition we are in. And yeah that is what the club wants, that is what we want as players and that is what we will fight for.
"Do I feel the need to step it up? This depends on every player, everyone has a different mindset. Me, for myself, if a player comes in or no player comes in, I try to be better than last season. Obviously new players come in and they are either going to play or not play but I just try to be better than I was last season and then we will see where we are at."
As champions, it's not likely that Slot's squad need any further motivation to defend their crown but the scenes of late April and May, when the title was officially confirmed before a memorable Anfield trophy lift at and subsequent city-wide parade attended by well over one million people, are marked indelibly on this group of players, Gakpo says. It's a period they all want to experience again.
"After Tottenham, Anfield was amazing and after the last game of the season, Anfield was amazing again," Gakpo says. "And then we had the parade, which was amazing but obviously ended in a not-so-nice situation (on Water Street). No-one died, which was obviously a good thing, but those celebrations were amazing to have those as a team, you get hungry for more of those. So everyone wants more of those and that is what we will fight for.
"Not everyone can experience this (parade). I think the last eight years, it was Manchester City every year and Liverpool in between and us now again last season, so it is not a given to win the league. So if you can do it and you have the quality to do it, you must go for it and try to get those experiences and get those trophies in and work as hard as possible to be as good as you possibly can be."
While Liverpool are aiming to defend a first league title since the 1980s this season, the feeling persists that the Reds have unfinished business in the Champions League also, having been eliminated by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain on penalties at Anfield in March.
Gakpo says: "Yes, it's true everyone was delighted with winning the Premier League but we lost the final of the Carabao Cup which was a shame. And then we lost against PSG, who are a very good team.
"But if you can measure yourself with those guys, it was a close call in both ways. They played a very good game in Paris, I think we played a very good game at Anfield, so it could have gone either way but they won and they also won the Champions League. So it was also like: 'Oh, if we had only beaten them...' But that is also part of football and it is the reason why we are working so hard to try and win it."