Incredible Cody Gakpo : The closest Liverpool have come to replace Sadio Mané and reason to reserve faith in owners

Liverpool have all but completed the signing of Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven after a fee was agreed between the two clubs in the late hours of boxing day.

Liverpool have agreed to pay a guarantee fee of £37 million and another £13 million in add ons to PSV while Gakpo will sign a six year contract with the six time European Champions.

The 23year old attacker, who had been linked with Manchester United since the last transfer window but couldn't move to the club after the Antony deal with Ajax.

There was also contact with Ajax, who intended to sign Gakpo as a replacement for the Brazilian, Antony, who left for Manchester United in a big money move.

However, Gakpo decided to remain at PSV after the two clubs let him down, even though Premier League duo of Leeds United and Southampton offered him a way out of the Eredivisie just before the end of the summer window.

While with the Netherlands for the World Cup, Liverpool defender and dutch teammate, Virgil van Dijk rubbished reports linking his countryman with a move to Manchester United, stressing the club is not at the level where Gakpo should move to take his career forward.

It could be there, where Liverpool were able to convince the attacker, through their own player to come to Anfield and become a Red that never walk alone.

In the end, agreement has been reached and now the deal is subjected to medical examination for Gakpo to officially become a Liverpool player.

This appears the best they could have done as per transfer business to finally fill the void left by a certain Senegalese forward, Sadio Mané, who departed the club last summer to join Bayern Munich.

Liverpool have struggled in the first half of last season and albeit the reason is not only limited to the absence of Mané, having him around could have eased some of their worries because of his workrate and style of play.

Accessing the profile of Cody Gakpo and looking at the numbers he has amassed in since the last two seasons across all competitions, it will be difficult not to be impressed with Liverpool's scouting and decision to splash the cash and beat rivals to his signature.

Cody Gakpo, apart from his 17 goals and 17 assists for club and country this season has been a very vital player, one of the best in Europe top seven leagues and also a huge star for the Netherlands in the world cup.

His style of play can be compared to Sadio Mané given his workrate. Though Mané is still better but at the age of 23, under a manager like Jürgen Klopp and a demanding club like Liverpool, he his bound to get even better.

Gakpo is an all-round player and despite being an attacker, he made vital defensive contributions and link up play very well with other players. He is a good dribbler and possesses lightning pace, which makes it very easy to beat his man at will.

This statistics showed that Gakpo has been a very good all-round player. He is an elite playmaker and has created the most chances in the Eredivisie this season while he is only one behind Dusan Tadic for big chances created.

He is a very technical player and from set-piece situations, he is slowly developing into a dead ball specialist. Maybe not by hitting the back of the net directly but by fashioning big chances for his teammates to score.

Gakpo is an incredible athlete and Liverpool fans can be delighted for the business the club has done. It feels like this is a Sadio Mané like signing and under Jürgen Klopp, their new could become even better because he has the prospect to be one of the best of his time.

With or without the ball, he is always contributing to play. His willingness to do everything makes him a threat to the opposing teams and his pressing leads to a lot of possession turnovers, which is why he ranks high for possession won in the final third in the league and Europe.

The joy of signing a player that has been on the radar of a rival team for months is also an added advantage for fans of the Merseyside Red as they can always rub it in the faces of United fans that their own dream is Liverpool's reality.

It will be interesting to see Gakpo line up alongside the likes of Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino, Darwin Nunez or Luis Diaz as the case may be when everyone is back from injury.

A good way to end the year is the prospect of having one of football's hottest properties arriving in your club ahead of the new year and this signing of Cody Gakpo is massive statement by Fenway Sports Group, FSG that they are not ready to relinquish the club's reign just yet.

Last winter transfer window saw the arrival of Luis Diaz from Porto. Darwin Nunez arrived from Benfica last summer and now Cody Gakpo is imminent in this winter transfer window. This is great but more is required.

And of course more will follow suit in this window because Liverpool clearly need options in midfield and late to realize that in the last window, Klopp really paid for it in the first half of the season, and also with the panick signing of Arthur Melo, which unfortunately but unsurprising hasn't gone so well.

Liverpool fans can however be optimistic ahead of the window because the owners are in the mood to spend and spend justly.

Author : Kehinde Hassan Afolabi