Cody Gakpo's Central Role in Liverpool's Season After Transfer Collapse

Liverpool have torn up their summer script for Cody Gakpo and handed him a central role in their season, after a blockbuster move to Manchester City collapsed at the last moment.

The Dutch forward, fresh from an eye-catching World Cup with the Netherlands and a sharp start to the 2026/27 campaign, spent most of the summer staring at the exit door. Inside Anfield, he had been quietly placed in the bracket of players who could go – but only if a heavyweight offer landed.

It did.

Both Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur were ready to pay in the region of €100m, according to Dutch outlet Dagblad, matching the financial package Liverpool had set as the threshold to even consider a sale. Gakpo chose City as his preferred destination, with Pep Guardiola’s side pushing hard in the final days of the window as they looked for a replacement for Savio.

Then the brakes went on.

Despite the agreement on figures, Liverpool pulled back and refused to sanction the move. The proposed transfer, described in the Netherlands as a “complete surprise” to fall through, died just as it seemed inevitable. Dagblad reported that Gakpo then met Liverpool’s owners on Tuesday, in part to clear the air after the late U-turn. Any prospect of a revived deal, or a switch elsewhere, has now been shut down. “It now appears that there will definitely be no other deal,” the outlet reported.

Out of that chaos, a new plan has emerged.

According to Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, Liverpool now see Gakpo as a “key” figure for the remainder of the season. The club did not bring in a replacement in his position, and that decision has hardened their stance: the Dutchman stays, and he plays.

O’Rourke points to what Liverpool already have in front of them. Gakpo scored against Newcastle United on the opening weekend and followed that with a smart assist against Nottingham Forest, early proof that his form has carried into the new campaign. Those contributions are only part of the story. His ability to operate across the front line and in deeper roles has become a strategic asset Jürgen Klopp’s successor Andoni Iraola is unwilling to lose.

“He’s such a versatile player for Liverpool, and I think that’s the key, Liverpool didn’t really want to lose that,” O’Rourke said, underlining why the club ultimately resisted City’s push despite being “willing to pay top dollar for Cody Gakpo”.

The late refusal, he argues, is as much about the head coach as the hierarchy. Iraola, still shaping his version of Liverpool, views Gakpo as central to any success the team can carve out this season. In his eyes, the Dutchman is not a luxury. He is a pillar.

So a summer that threatened to end with Gakpo in sky blue has instead closed with a different reality: a €100m forward, once deemed expendable under the right conditions, now recast as a cornerstone of Liverpool’s attack.

How decisive that call looks in May will tell its own story.