Liverpool had been considering a third midfield signing prior to Saudia Arabia’s surprise swoop for Jordan Henderson and Fabinho in the market.
The days of uhming and ahing are now firmly over, of course, with the expected departures of the Reds’ skipper and first-choice No.6 leaving the side with arguably little in the way choice other than to bring in two further additions to the middle of the park.
In the meantime, limited available options (coupled with the recent returns of Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott from international duty) have forced the coaching staff into making some interesting calls.
One such decision that could be worth pursuing come the start of the season proper was the placement of Cody Gakpo in the midfield (as was noted in a tweet by Liverpool.com’s @MattAddison97).
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The Dutchman was an assured presence alongside Alexis Mac Allister and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Though, we could hardly blame supporters for their raised eyebrows at the prospect of the former PSV man remaining a permanent fixture in midfield.
That said, the No.8 role is one which wouldn’t necessarily be a poor fit for Gakpo’s skillset.
A more than adept dribbler who thrives when running into space, it’s not entirely out of left field to suggest that our January signing could be of use to the club playing a deeper role than usual.
It’s entirely possible this is, of course, an experiment facilitated by necessity, though if the idea does take hold at Liverpool – it could end up saving the club tens of millions of pounds in their search for midfield reinforcements.
#Ep82 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: Who do Liverpool replace Henderson & Fabinho with?