Cody Gakpo Requests Transfer from Liverpool Amid Major Changes

Cody Gakpo has asked to leave Liverpool, bringing a dramatic twist to a summer already defined by upheaval at Anfield.

The Netherlands international, signed for an initial £37 million in January 2022, has reportedly submitted a transfer request in the wake of Arne Slot’s sacking, with Dutch outlet Soccernews claiming he “does not see a future at The Reds without Slot”.

For a player who has delivered 50 goals and 23 assists in 180 games, it is a striking rupture. Last season he contributed 15 goals and assists in the Premier League alone, helping drive Liverpool to the title in Slot’s first campaign in charge. He was central to the system, trusted, indulged, and backed when others called for change.

This season, that trust curdled into tension.

Liverpool’s title defence fell apart, the champions slumping to a fifth-placed finish. Performances dipped, the fluency disappeared, and the mood around Anfield soured. Slot paid with his job. Gakpo, in turn, became a lightning rod.

Sections of the Liverpool support questioned his place in the side and turned their gaze towards teenage sensation Rio Ngumoha, baffled that Slot continued to start Gakpo ahead of the academy prodigy. Every quiet game deepened the scrutiny. Every missed chance sharpened the debate.

The pressure finally told. With Slot gone and Andoni Iraola now installed, Gakpo has chosen to push for the exit.

Soccernews report that the 25-year-old has formally requested a transfer, and that there is serious interest from Spain. Atletico Madrid are said to be listening closely, viewing Gakpo as a potential replacement for Antoine Griezmann, who is heading to MLS side Orlando City after his contract at the La Liga club expired.

It will not be a bargain hunt. Gakpo is currently valued at around €60m (£52m) by Transfermarkt, and the Dutch report stresses that “a lot of payment will have to be made” to prise him away from Merseyside. Even so, the suggestion is that a deal is feasible if all parties push.

Liverpool, crucially, are not standing in his way.

TEAMtalk report that the club are open to selling Gakpo this summer, despite Slot’s previous loyalty to the winger and the decision to hand him a lucrative new contract worth £250,000 a week through to June 2030 just last year. The same hierarchy that backed Slot’s faith in Gakpo is now prepared to cash in.

That stance comes in a summer of major change on the flanks. Mohamed Salah, a modern club icon, is also departing, leaving a gaping hole in Liverpool’s attack and identity. Yet sources indicate that even with Salah leaving, Liverpool are still ready to sanction Gakpo’s exit if the right offer arrives and his desire to go remains firm.

The scale of the rebuild has been clear for months. Back in March, before Salah’s departure became official, transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano predicted a busy window at Anfield in wide areas.

“I think it will be a busy summer for Liverpool with wingers. It’s very clear they need to reinforce their wingers,” he said, highlighting the situations of both Salah and Gakpo and stressing the need for “something fresh in that position”.

Now the theory is colliding with reality. Salah is on his way. Gakpo wants out. Iraola walks into a dressing room where two of the club’s most prominent wide forwards could be gone before he oversees a competitive game.

For Liverpool, this is no gentle evolution of the front line. It is a tear-down and rebuild. For Gakpo, it is the end of a turbulent chapter at a club where he was once seen as a cornerstone of the future.

The question now is not whether he fits into Liverpool’s next era, but whether that next era begins without two of their most recognisable attacking faces.