With Thiago, Stefan Bajčetić and Dominik Szoboszlai all out through injury, and Fabinho and Jordan Henderson both missing ahead of their departures, Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp didn’t have many midfield options at his disposal for Monday’s pre-season friendly against Greuther Fürth.
One of the manager’s solutions was to use Cody Gakpo, who has primarily operated as a withdrawn center-forward following his January move from PSV Eindhoven, in the left-sided number eight role, with new signing Alexis Mac Allister to the right.
Gakpo only played 45 minutes, like everybody else who started the first half of what was only Liverpool’s second pre-season fixture, but he nonetheless gave Klopp reason to repeat the experiment.
The Dutchman excelled when it came to ball progression, frequently playing the penultimate pass before a shot, and made use of his attacking license to push up and combine effectively with his teammates, playing one-twos around the edge of the Fürth penalty area.
In addition, Gakpo once again demonstrated his aptitude under pressure, both when it comes to receiving the ball and navigating a way out. He’s able to use a combination of raw running power and technical skill to evade swarms of opponents.
This, it’s worth noting, wasn’t the first time we’ve seen the 24-year-old stationed in a midfield role — he’d also played there in the 1-0 win over Brentford at the start of May, but that was on the right side.
Here, he was used in an almost identical position to new Arsenal signing Kai Havertz, who’s been boldly redeployed by manager Mikel Arteta.
Having featured predominantly as a false nine during his time at former club Chelsea, Havertz has been playing as a left center midfielder in Arsenal’s recent friendlies against Manchester United and Bayern Munich. It’s a very similar blueprint, with a full-back tucking in to offer extra cover, but Klopp’s version is superior.
Arsenal shelled out a whopping $84m (£65m/€76m) on Havertz even though he’d failed to live up to a similarly lofty $98m (£76m/€86m) price tag at Stamford Bridge, while Liverpool paid a much more reasonable $57m (£44m/€50m) for Gakpo.
When they play in the forward line, as the former will periodically and the latter will for the most part, Gakpo is likely to be more effective.
Last season, he matched Havertz’s Premier League goal tally (seven) despite playing 14 fewer matches (21 compared to 35), and he also provided two more assists (three versus one).
And importantly, Gakpo has the ingredients to be just as effective in midfield, namely his aforementioned eye for a penetrative pass, link-up play and ability in tight spaces. Arteta likely saw similar traits in Havertz, which may have been the basis for his bold midfield idea.
Above all else, the former PSV man relies on his supreme intelligence when he slots into new roles, having already adapted seamlessly to an unfamiliar false-nine position at Anfield.
“He is a super footballer and a smart person,” Klopp said last season, “I never for second thought that he was only 24, but he is really young. He was captain at his previous club, which is special.
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