Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has claimed it was like having an ‘open goal’ trying to convince Cody Gakpo to join the club in what could be considered a sly dig towards Manchester United. The Red Devils were the team most heavily rumoured with a move for the Dutchman’s services but their fierce rivals stole a match to bring him to Anfield instead.
United had been linked with a move for Gakpo since last summer, with Erik ten Hag said to have made the forward his top target to replace Cristiano Ronaldo after the 37-year-old’s acrimonious exit in November.
However, it was Liverpool who managed to convince him to move to the north-west instead after they agreed an initial £37million deal with PSV Eindhoven earlier this week. The Reds confirmed his arrival on Wednesday with Klopp fielding questions from the media about his latest addition on Thursday.
The German insisted it was an easy task to get him to join, with Virgil van Dijk not needed to put the final touches on the move for his international compatriot.
“Some of these nice moments you are are manager of Liverpool FC you think you have to convince someone and then you realise the door is wide open so it’s more or less a home run,” Klopp said during his pre-match press conference for Friday’s encounter with Leicester.
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“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),” he explained. “It’s not that increases it. It 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.”
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