Media roundup 27th Dec: Gakpo, Villa Beaten, Núñez Praise, and More Gakpo

(Plus, More Gakpo – it's Christmas!)

Before Dan Z’s weekly roundup, I wanted to add a few extra words on the Cody Gakpo deal, after my article from Tuesday (linked to below).

The comedian and ex-Liverpool legend Steve Nicol said of Cody Gakpo:

“I'm not 100 per cent sure [about him]. Where does he play? He doesn’t play way up high, he doesn’t play in the middle. He’s kind of in between. Where does that fit in with the way Liverpool play?”

He plays on the left wing, Steve. Just like Sadio Mané and Mo Salah. (Maybe you also remember that fella called John Barnes you played with for the best part of a decade?)

Plus, we showed you how good he was here.

He’s a prolific goalscoring inverted winger who creates a ton of chances and assists for others, and at somewhere between 6’2” and 6’4”, is a huge aerial threat.

Gakpo’s expected goals and assists per game is the same as Erling Haaland’s this season. (1.5 per game) Not bad for a winger!

Obviously it’s a weaker league, but he’s been in a team less dominant than City.

Also, over the past 12 months, Gakpo is in the top 95 percentile across the eight best European leagues (as a wide attacker) for: non-penalty goals; non-penalty xG; total shots; assists; expected assists; non-penalty expected goals + assists per game; shot-creating actions; dribbles completed; touches in the opposition box; and progressive passes received. (Sadio Mané was always excellent on the latter: it’s about making penetrating runs off the ball. Darwin Núñez is 94th percentile this season, Mané is the 95th percentile across 2022 as a whole. Gakpo is the 97th percentile)

Five of those categories the 99th percentile (non-penalty goals, assists, expected assists, touches in the opposition penalty area, and the best one: non-penalty expected goals + assists per game).

Plus, 86th percentile for interceptions, and 89th for aerials won. All as a young attacker who became captain of the club last season; a player who is driven, and goes to extra lengths to work at his game, beyond what PSV expected.

What he isn’t is a passer, but then most of his passes are crosses, and he’s superb at those; or he’s receiving the ball to take towards goal. Also, he’s likely to be making difficult, final third passes, rather than safe possession-topper-uppers. He’s two-footed, and a real aerial threat.

I noted on the site last night that it’s dangerous to just think the opposite of what any given idiot says, because they could be right about something, but with Steve Nicol it tends to hold true.

Anyway, onto the Liverpool FC News, Media and Transfer Roundup by Daniel Zambartas.