Cody Gakpo

Cody Mathès Gakpo (Dutch: ['kɔdi 'ɣɑkpɔ]; born 7 May 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left winger or centre forward for Premier League club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team.

A PSV academy graduate, Gakpo made his first-team debut in February 2018. In the 2021–22 season, he won the Dutch Footballer of the Year award after scoring 21 goals in 47 games in all competitions. He signed for Liverpool in January 2023.

Gakpo played youth international football for the Netherlands from under-18 to under-21 level. He made his senior international debut in June 2021 at UEFA Euro 2020.

Early life

Gakpo was born in Eindhoven and raised in the district of Stratum. His father was born in Togo and has Ghanaian ancestry, while his mother is Dutch. In 2007, he moved to the youth academy of PSV, where he then progressed through all of the youth teams.

Club career

PSV

For the 2016–17 season, Gakpo was part of the reserve team Jong PSV for the first time but mainly featured in the under-19 team. Gakpo made his professional debut in the Eerste Divisie for Jong PSV on 4 November 2016, in a game against Helmond Sport. For the rest of the season, he only made one more appearance for Jong PSV. After his production increased in the following season's U19 Eredivisie with seven goals and five assists in 13 league games, he was finally promoted to the reserves at the turn of the year. In his second appearance in the second-tier Eerste Divisie, on 19 January 2017, in a 3–2 away win against De Graafschap, he scored a brace and made the assist for the third goal of his team. For Jong PSV, he managed to score seven goals in the 2017–18 season, which he achieved in 12 league games.