Cody Gakpo prefers the left of the pitch like many of his Liverpool teammates. Jürgen Klopp must avoid the problem Cristiano Ronaldo inflicted upon Manchester United.
The January transfer window has been open for less than a week, yet Liverpool have already made a signing. Jürgen Klopp hasn’t strengthened his midfield department, the team’s biggest area of need, as he instead decided to add another attacker to his ranks by the name of Cody Gakpo.
A promising talent who seems to have experienced a real coming of age this season, the Dutchman will bolster Liverpool’s offensive game for the rest of the campaign as they chase a finish in the top four of the Premier League. Gakpo arrives as a capable forward, albeit one who favours the left side of the pitch.
For PSV Eindhoven, the 23-year-old thrived as a left-sided attacker who often cut inside using his right foot before finding the net or creating a chance for one of his teammates. He’s one of Europe’s biggest starlets in that sense, but it is a somewhat curious transfer considering what Klopp already has at his disposal in the fnal third.
When everybody is fit and available for the German, Luis Díaz tends to be deployed on the left for Liverpool, having been signed from FC Porto less than 12 months ago. The Colombian international is injured right now, but he’s been impressive since his move to English shores.
Diogo Jota is another who favours the left flank as opposed to the right. Although the Portuguese has one of the most flexible profiles around, he does lean towards the left, and the same goes for Darwin Núñez, who joined from Benfica in the summer just gone.
The South American striker is very much a player who has a future through the centre, but it is in his nature to drift towards the left, with Fábio Carvalho and Curtis Jones also liking similar spaces to their more senior teammates.
Overall, Klopp now has a wealth of right-footed options who want to play on the left, with Mohamed Salah perhaps the only man to go against the grain at Anfield. The Egyptian is left-footed, unlike virtually all of his offensive teammates — with the exception of Harvey Elliott — which explains why he’s so valuable to Liverpool.
Klopp is relatively fortunate that Salah is almost indestructible and plays every single week without ever picking up a knock or fitness concern. He’s always on the pitch, but the Reds must be mindful of a mistake made by Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent times.
Not long ago, Liverpool’s arch rivals possessed a heavily imbalanced squad, with plenty of right-footed talents but few lefties. Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford all wanted to use the same spaces on the left flank, and it didn’t take long for them to start getting in the way of each other.
Moreover, left-back Luke Shaw was far more threatening than Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the opposite side, which further complicated Manchester United’s structural issues. Opponents could effectively defend in a lopsided manner against them, and that resulted in many frustrating draws and losses materialising.
To make their problem even worse, the Manchester club then sanctioned the signing of Ronaldo around 18 months ago, with the has-been superstar also favouring the left. It is only since Erik ten Hag’s appointment that it has been addressed, with Manchester United sanctioning an expensive move for Antony, who is left-footed, at the start of the campaign.
Salah ensures that Liverpool are safe in that sense but in Gakpo, Klopp has picked up yet another player for the left. It will be up to him to guarantee that he’s able to perform as a seamless fit rather than a player who complicates the puzzle. Whether that sees him move to the right or else make himself undroppable on the left remains to be seen, but he will have to carve out a clear place to avoid an impending Ronaldo issue.
Explained: Why Ronaldo may have to wait to make his Al-Nassr debut
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Cristiano Ronaldo might have to wait a while to make his Saudi Pro League debut for Al-Nassr due to a registration issue and pre-existing ban.
WHAT HAPPENED? Ronaldo was officially presented as an Al-Nassr player on Tuesday after signing a two-year contract with the Saudi outfit, who have reportedly made the 37-year-old the highest-paid player in football history. But the player will likely have to wait sometime to make his debut as he will have to serve a two-game FA ban he was handed as a Manchester United player. He was punished for smashing an Everton fan’s phone as he walked off the field after a match at Goodison Park in April last year.
Moreover, there are other factors preventing Ronaldo from being registered with the Saudi FA: a foreign player will have to leave Al-Nassr as there are already eight on their books excluding the Portuguese, and the club will have to get a Certificate of Competence from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) by granting dues to employees in the football sector. It has been reported that Uzbek midfielder Jaloliddin Masharapov will be sacrificed, having made just one appearance this season.
WHEN CAN RONALDO MAKE HIS DEBUT FOR AL-NASSR? The Knights of Najd were forced to postpone their first Saudi Pro League game since the arrival of Ronaldo by 24 hours due to technical problems at their stadium “due to heavy rain and weather conditions impacting the stadium’s electricity”. However, Ronaldo is highly unlikely to take part in the re-scheduled fixture on Friday or the clash with Al-Shabab on January 14 due to the ban. He could make finally get on the pitch in his new colours when a Saudi All-Star XI face Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain in the Riyadh Season Cup on January 19.
Source: liverpool.com; goal.com
