Cody Gakpo Liverpool truth is no surprise to Arne Slot

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo has enjoyed a blistering start to Euro 2024. He has brought the Netherlands level in their Group D opener with Poland and arguably been the best player on the pitch.

That will delight his fellow Dutchman and new Liverpool coach Arne Slot, who knows Gakpo's talents all too well, as explained by Theo Squires last month before Jurgen Klopp's successor was officially named...

Cody Gakpo is perhaps more familiar with his soon-to-be new head coach, Arne Slot, than any of his Liverpool team-mates.

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Gakpo became the latest Red to speak about the Feyenoord boss after scoring in Liverpool’s 4-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on May 5.

Speaking to Viaplay, he admitted he was ‘very curious’ about the prospect of his compatriot replacing Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield dugout, as he recalled the ‘often difficult games’ he played against Slot’s Feyenoord side from his own time in the Eredivisie.

Virgil van Dijk once crossed paths with Slot when his compatriot was still a player for PEC Zwolle and he was still on the books of FC Groningen, while Ryan Gravenberch twice faced off against his Feyenoord side during his final season with Ajax. Meanwhile, the incoming Reds boss was assistant manager at AZ Alkmaar when he twice clashed with a Willem II side containing an on-loan Kostas Tsimikas.

Yet it is Gakpo who boasts the most experience against Slot’s side after enjoying a breakthrough season with PSV Eindhoven in 2018/19.

Discounting two meetings with AZ in 2018/19 when Slot was still assistant manager, the Liverpool forward locked horns with his would-be boss four times between October 2019 and September 2022 - losing twice, drawing once, and winning their final meeting.

Registering three goals and three assists from such outings, the now 25-year-old certainly impressed individually against Slot’s sides. However, his would-be manager boasts the upper-hand with such results proving costly to Gakpo in more ways than one.

Gakpo first faced off against a Slot side when his compatriot was enjoying his first season in charge of AZ Alkmaar. The then 20-year-old started upfront for PSV, completing 77 minutes, but a red card issued to Ryan Thomas midway through the first half with the scores goalless ultimately doomed the now Liverpool forward and his then side.

Slot’s side would end up clinching an emphatic 4-0 victory at PSV’s Philips Stadion. With the Coronavirus pandemic prompting the Eredivisie to be abandoned in the 2019/20 campaign, the two sides were denied a return meeting in Alkmaar.

Fourth-placed PSV were seven points behind second-placed AZ, having played a game more, when the campaign was terminated though, with Slot's side securing qualification to the following season's Champions League qualifiers as a result.

Slot had already been dismissed by AZ, having already agreed to take over at Feyenoord from the start of the following season, when PSV clashed with them both times in 2020/21. Consequently, Gakpo would meet his next manager again until September 2021.

Again, it would prove to be a miserable day for PSV. By this point club captain, Gakpo started on the left-wing at the Philips Stadion as Slot’s side ran out convincing 4-0 winners in September 2021. The loss left PSV third in the table with Feyenoord above their rivals in second.

Fast forward to May 2022, and they would fight out a 2-2 draw at De Kuip, with Slot again frustrating Gakpo - despite his best efforts.

The forward, again captaining his side from the left-wing, scored a brace to fire PSV into a 2-0 lead inside the opening half-hour. However, after Cyriel Dessers had halved the deficit in the 86th minute, he was withdrawn in favour of Marco van Ginkel as PSV, who were chasing title glory, looked to protect their lead.

Alas, they did not hold on as a 96th minute Dessers penalty earned Feyenoord a share of the spoils. The stalemate, coming with only two games of the season remaining would prove particularly costly for PSV as they finished second in the table and missed out on the title by just two points to Ajax.

If not for picking up just one point from two meetings with Slot's men, they would have been crowned champions. Meanwhile, Slot’s side finished the season in the distant third, 12 points off the champions and 10 points off PSV.

Meeting for the final time in September 2022, Gakpo put in an eye-catching performance from the left-wing at the Phillips Stadion to help PSV run out 4-3 winners.

Falling behind after just three minutes, Gakpo set up Jarrad Branthwaite to equalise from a corner, before firing PSV into the lead. Slot's Feyenoord would peg them back on the stroke of half-time, only for the Liverpool forward to cross to Guus Til to make it 3-2 soon after the restart.

And while PSV were pegged back again, Gakpo set up a late winner for Armando Obispo from another corner.

The victory saw PSV move up to first in the table, leapfrogging Feyenoord who would drop to fourth. Yet a 1-0 home defeat to AZ Alkmaar in what would prove to be Gakpo’s final appearance for the club in November, prior to his move to Anfield, saw them surrender top spot heading into the 2022 World Cup.

A 5-1 victory for Slot’s Feyenoord over Excelsior the following day saw them claim first place for the first time since the opening day of the season. And they retained it for the rest of the campaign to win the Eredivisie title for the first time since 2017, as they finished seven points clear of a now Gakpo-less PSV in second.

Both Slot and Gakpo will have shared admiring glances at each other during their overlapping stints in their homeland, with it inevitable that the Liverpool forward would be excited to link up with his former rival.

While he might boast three goals and three assists against his soon-to-be manager's sides from four meetings, such clashes saw the 25-year-old twice on the receiving end of heavy defeats at home, and miss out on both Champions League qualification and two Eredivisie titles.

And having seen Gakpo up close both as a striker and left-winger, at the very least it will be interesting to see where Slot favours fielding the versatile forward when they link up at Anfield next season.