Cody Gakpo has officially signed for Premier League side Liverpool ahead of the start of the January transfer window, the club has confirmed.
Gakpo, who completed his medical earlier, completed the transfer from PSV Eindhoven which he joined as a youngster and enjoyed 159 appearances for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side, scoring 55 times for his boyhood club. The 23-year-old player makes the move to England having impressed in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar where he scored three goals in that time as well as leaving Eredivisie as the top scorer and leading assister with nine and 12 respectively.
The new Liverpool signing will wear the number 18 – which former Reds and Feyenoord player Dirk Kuyt wore during his time at Anfield.
Gakpo told his new 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.”
Gakpo has long been the target of a potential move to the Premier League with the likes of Southampton, Aston Villa and Leeds United chasing his signature in the summer before the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool entered the race. The deal is thought to be worth around £45 million.
He added: “I’m really looking forward to [playing at Anfield]. I heard a lot of great stories about the stadium, about the atmosphere. I cannot wait.
“Obviously [my aim is] to win as many prizes as we can as a team, to perform well, to show the world what we can do as a team and what I can do as a player. And personally, just to keep developing and become a better player every season.
“I’m really thankful that everybody is giving me such a warm welcome and I’m really looking forward to seeing everybody in the stadium and around the city.”
