A legend of European football has suggested that Arne Slot could still ‘get more out of’ one particular player at Liverpool.
The Reds made a winning return to the Champions League last night as they defeated AC Milan 3-1, and Clarence Seedorf – who won the trophy twice with the Rossoneri and four times overall – was captivated by the performance of Cody Gakpo at the San Siro.
Speaking on Amazon Prime Sport, the 48-year-old urged the LFC boss not to confine our number 18 to the left wing, where he excelled against the Serie A outfit on Tuesday.
Seedorf said of Gakpo: “I like what he did in the World Cup. I like to give him a little bit more freedom. Playing on the left side constantly, of course he can do it, but I think you can get more out of him. He’s more restricted, I believe, when he plays on the wing.”
Jurgen Klopp used Gakpo primarily as a centre-forward, although the 25-year-old has mainly been deployed on the left by Slot so far at Liverpool.
Although Seedorf referenced the three goals that the Reds attacker scored from a central role at the 2022 World Cup, he matched that tally at Euro 2024 while playing on the flank, and that’s clearly where the LFC head coach feels that he’s best utilised.
Follow Empire of the Kop on Instagram (@empireofthekop) HERE
Of course, circumstances could change throughout the season and the ex-PSV Eindhoven man might need to be switched to a number 9 role if Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota are unavailable or in need of a rest.
Watching Gakpo terrorise the experienced Milan captain Davide Calabria on Tuesday night, it’d be hard to take him out of the left-sided role in which he’s been performing tremendously for club and country.
However, the beauty for Slot is that he has the option of deploying the 25-year-old either out wide or through the middle, depending on the circumstances of an individual fixture.
What we can state emphatically is that, after a performance as energetic and eye-catching as his one at the San Siro, the Dutchman is highly likely to be somewhere in the starting XI for the clash against Bournemouth on Saturday.
EOTK Close-up with John Welsh: ‘a local lad who lived his dream’ and Slot’s LFC predictions