Cody Gakpo Reveals How Virgil van Dijk Convinced Him To Join Liverpool.

Liverpool have announced the signing of Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven, subject to a work permit.

The 23-year-old forward will officially become a Reds player at the start of the January transfer window after agreeing personal terms and successfully completing a medical at the AXA Training Centre on Wednesday.

He will wear the No.18 jersey for the club.

Gakpo arrives at Anfield, following an impressive performance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the Netherlands, starring alongside Virgil van Dijk, he netted three goals in five appearances, helping their country reach the quarter-final stage where they crashed out to eventual champions Argentina.

After representing the Netherlands at age groups U18 to U21, he earned his first senior cap came as a substitute during the Euro 2020 group-stage fixture with North Macedonia in June 2021.

To date, he has tallied 14 appearances for his nation, with six goals scored.

Gakpo came close to moving to England last summer with Manchester United heavily linked with him, but a deal could not be completed.

United still remained favorites to sign him ahead of the January transfer window, but Liverpool moved quickly to land the Dutch international before the January window is officially opened.

The Reds will reportedly pay up to £37m fixed fee plus add-ons for Gakpo who was the leading scorer and assister with nine goals and 12 assists in 14 games so far in the Eredivisie.

A first Klopp hug for Cody 🤗 pic.twitter.com/BOACdc23CU

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 28, 2022

Gakpo expressed his excitement following the completion of the transfer as the told the club's website;  “I feel really good, I’m really excited to be here. I’m looking forward to start training and start playing for this amazing club.

“I think this is a great club for me to come in and try to show what I can [do] and try to help the team to achieve more beautiful moments that they already did in the past years.

“I think for me personally it’s also good to develop here and there’s a lot of great players here [who] I can learn a lot of things from.”

Born and raised in Eindhoven, Gakpo is a product of PSV’s youth system, progressing through the ranks before making his senior debut in February 2018.

He went on to make a total of 159 appearances for his hometown club across all competitions, scoring 55 times. 

Gakpo also praised his fellow international teammate Van Dijk who played a key role in convincing him to join Liverpool.

“We spoke a lot over the phone [in] the last few days.

“What he told me was that this is the right move for me to make and for me to develop and to become a better player, that the club is a really big and massive club but also like a real family – I think that is also very important for me because I am a family guy. He said only good things.

“At the moment I was calling [in] with the coach [Jurgen Klopp], he came into the office of the coach and then he saw me and we chatted a little bit. “I am also happy that he is here, so he can help me with some stuff. I am really grateful to be here.”