Liverpool board backed to sell attacker after surprise Gakpo signing

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Jamie Carragher says Liverpool will have no qualms selling one of their talented attackers if the signing of Cody Gakpo disrupts the harmony at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp’s side are now stacked with six mouthwatering forwards following the £50million capture of the Dutchman after a shock deal was agreed on Boxing Day for the World Cup star.

Gakpo has since flown to Merseyside to complete his medical and sign his contract meaning he will officially become a Liverpool in January pending international clearance.

The 23-year-old could force his way straight into the starting XI but when the likes of Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz return from injury – Klopp is facing a serious managerial headache.

Diaz, Jota and Mohamed Salah formed Liverpool’s first-choice front three earlier in the season but with Darwin Nunez also causing chaos in the final third, Liverpool are now blessed with arguably the best frontline in the Premier League.

Carragher believes it’s a great problem to have and he is confident Liverpool will be firm enough to offload one of those six players, should it not work out for the Reds.

He told Sky Sports during coverage of Liverpool versus Leicester: “I thought he [Gakpo] was going to be a little bit more expensive certainly when you look at what Antony cost, a similar profile of player and position, I thought it would be those type of numbers.

“It was a really good deal for Liverpool. Yes, you can look to next season and say, what will happen when Luis Diaz is back? Because he plays on the left wing, they will fight positions and if push comes to shove, they can probably sell one of them if they can’t really fit them in.

“I think it’s a really good decision and really good signing.”

Carragher was also surprised that Liverpool managed to secure Gakpo for just £50m including add-ons given Manchester United recently paid £86m for Antony.

He added: “If you look at his stats in Holland, you’d expect those types of numbers.

“We know the Eredivisie isn’t at the same standard as the Premier League and there’s been a lot of hit and misses from the Dutch league coming in.

“But if you look at it, Liverpool have got Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain coming in tonight on the left wing, that’s not really his position. The bench isn’t great in terms of attacking options.

“I think Luis Diaz is going to be out for two or three months, I don’t think Diogo Jota is going to be back anytime soon.

“So right now, I think he’s a great signing. The thing that has actually surprised me is the price.”

Liverpool boss Klopp insists the Reds moved for Gakpo before he became “unaffordable” as United and other clubs including Chelsea and Real Madrid began to circle.

He said on his new signing: “I would say in principle it’s like this for all people in the world, the money you spend has an impact on the money you can spend in the future. It doesn’t increase it. But this [Gakpo arrival and January transfer plans] has nothing to do with each other.

“We know what we want to do and we will see if we can do it. It’s about money, of course, but it’s more about how it always was – about the right players. And we are really, really happy that we could get Cody.

“He is a young player with a lot of potential. If he would have already been scoring 40 goals in Spain or whatever he would be unaffordable. These kinds of things are all about timing, getting these boys at the right moment that they didn’t already score 55 goals per season and stuff like this.”

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