Cody Gakpo Leads the Premier League for his Strongest Stat

Yes, it has only been one match. But if Cody Gakpo can continue delivering at a league-leading rate for his main strength, sparks will fly

It has been a difficult summer for everyone at Liverpool. The team that won the league is rapidly changing into something different, something new. Maybe something better eventually, though not yet.

A penny for Cody Gakpo’s thoughts. The arrival of Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and maybe Alexander Isak has inevitably drawn focus. Mohamed Salah will always do likewise because, well, just look at his record. If not a forgotten man exactly, Gakpo will inevitably struggle to draw too much attention in this climate.

He has been doing his best to arrest this. The Netherlands international led the squad for combined shots and chances created per 90 minutes in pre-season (in the matches for which data was available).

Gakpo also scored four goals, netting against Preston, Milan and Athletic Club (twice). He wasn’t perfect, though; the 26-year-old scored an own goal against the La Liga outfit, then was muscled off the ball too easily when Crystal Palace regained possession to equalise for a second time at Wembley.

While not the same, it brought to mind his half-hearted attempt to stop the Nottingham Forest counter that led to Liverpool’s only league defeat at Anfield last season. Perhaps Arne Slot needs to remind Gakpo to play like a man who stands 6’ 2” tall, even if he is a little on the lean side.

Despite the flaws in his off-ball game, the former PSV Eindhoven man scored in the Premier League opener against Bournemouth. He has 1.15 goal contributions per 90 since the start of the summer, which is red hot form even if most of it occurring in pre-season pours water on his fire.

We shouldn’t draw any firm conclusions from one match week of a new league season. Equally, we should take encouragement from something positive, watching out to see if it repeats or fades into obscurity over the weeks ahead.

There’s a metric on Opta Analyst’s Premier League stats page for 2025/26 which has Gakpo sitting atop the standings. Even though his rate will prove unsustainable, the Reds’ new-look attack will benefit from a skill he used to devastating effect in the Eredivisie.

When Gakpo joined Liverpool in the winter of 2022/23, the following statistic (again, via Opta Analyst) caught the eye.

“Since the start of 2021-22, Cody Gakpo's been involved in 81 shots & 18 goals following a ball carry in the Eredivisie. Across the top 5 Euro leagues in this period, only 3 players have been involved in more shots via carries:

Vinícius Jr: 110, Kylian Mbappé: 103, Rafael Leão: 99.

This rate for combined shots and chances created following a carry of at least five metres equated to 2.4 per 90. Gakpo delivered half of that in the 2023/24 Premier League, then improved to 1.8 last season.

The latter rate is better than it may first sound. It is inevitably harder to deliver productive carries in England than it is in Netherlands. The Liverpool number 18 finished 12th in the division for this metric among men with at least as much playing time in 2024/25.

More impressive than the total was the balance for both aspects of output from carries. Gakpo averaged 0.93 chances created and 0.84 shots per 90 last term, with Pedro Neto, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Salah the only other players able to hit the latter mark for both.

This level of output explains why Gakpo was among the leaders for Statsbomb’s Dribble and Carry On-Ball Value metric (when adjusted per 100 touches). As the five players above him on that chart - Sávinho, Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka, Jérémy Doku and Heung-min Son - don’t feature on the above list, the Liverpool left-forward hits a sweet spot for helping his team move up field then delivering tangible output once there.

This will rarely have been truer than it was last week against Bournemouth. Gakpo was the only Premier League player to create three chances following an Opta-defined carry across the first weekend of the campaign.

Four men were able to take at least three shots, but Cody’s two gave him five productive carries in total, more than anyone else. Remember, averaging two per 90 is elite so five in one game will be rare.

It also means Gakpo only had one shot involvement that didn’t follow him carrying the ball for five metres or further. Let’s review some clips. Strangely, the opportunities he set up were in the first half, his own three shots coming after the break.

StatsZone rated Gakpo as far more influential in the second half

The first is not worth mentioning beyond the fact that it also featured a carry from Alexis Mac Allister prior to the pre-assist pass. Slot’s Reds will be carrying the ball further than the sides of the past that relied on the passing ability of Trent Alexander-Arnold to move them forward.

The next example was more impressive as it delivered what Opta considered to be a big chance. As an aside, Liverpool have had six of these across their matches with Palace and Bournemouth, with Gakpo part of the move for five of them.

Ibrahima Konaté made a lengthy dribble as part of the sequence this time. Ibou’s average carry distance has only been longer than it was against the Cherries twice in league or Europe for Liverpool. Both, interestingly, were at the City Ground. Advance, Konaté, for Nuno bestows the gift of space.

We then saw Gakpo carrying the ball (following a nice spin out of danger) to create the Reds’ first counter attack shot of their league title defence. Salah carried the ball before shooting; he should’ve carried it away from the shot-blocking defender too.

The Dutchman’s goal was next. You don’t need reminding of this but it’s nice to see Liverpool score, isn’t it? The carry is integral to the move too.

Neither of Gakpo’s other shots were high in value or of particular interest. Neither appears to be preceded by a carry of five+ metres either, truth be told. There’s no harm in being reminded in a constant truth about data: we take it at face value without knowing what quality check was undertaken.

Watching these clips back, Gakpo’s carries were mostly of minimal length, not the sort of runs which he used to such positive effect in his homeland. But that’s another important point regarding this data; a minimum bar of five metres isn’t that far. Ask Antoine Semenyo, who made one of the longest ball carries before scoring on record last week.

Different opponents offer different opportunities for methods of attack. Liverpool’s proportion of carry distance that was progressive (towards the opposition goal) was lower against Bournemouth last season than versus any other team.

If Gakpo is leading the way in the Premier League now, what might he achieve against clubs that allow more progressive carrying? At the very least, his dribbling skills should ensure he is not forgotten alongside his more illustrious (and expensive) teammates this season.