Cody Gakpo has reportedly communicated his preferred position to Roberto De Zerbi as Tottenham Hotspur push to secure the Liverpool forward this summer.

The Netherlands international has been heavily linked with a move to Spurs, with sporting director Johan Lange keen to add an attacking player to his summer recruitment haul.

Lange has already spent nearly £250m on new players this summer, bringing in three defenders, two midfielders, and a goalkeeper to strengthen the squad significantly.

Despite that substantial investment, Tottenham are yet to sign a forward capable of making a genuine difference in the final third, and Gakpo has emerged as a key target.

Gakpo’s contract at Anfield runs until June 2030, but that has not deterred Spurs from pursuing the versatile attacker, who can operate across multiple positions in the frontline.

The 27-year-old’s positional journey has been a long and winding one, beginning at PSV Eindhoven where he featured centrally and on the right, before settling predominantly on the left wing.

When Jurgen Klopp signed him, Gakpo was initially used as a number nine, with Luis Diaz and the late Diogo Jota preferred in the wide left role during that period.

Speaking in June 2023, Gakpo reflected on his early Liverpool experience, saying: “I have become convinced that being a striker suits me. Guus Hiddink was the first to use Gakpo as a striker.”

He continued, explaining his gradual conversion: “I didn’t want to believe it then. And then, when Roger Schmidt said the same thing later at PSV when he was coach, I was even more stubborn.”

Gakpo added: “It felt good on the left flank. But at the last World Cup, I was already more central on the field and at Liverpool permanently in the past six months.”

Despite his development as a central striker, Ronald Koeman deployed Gakpo on the left wing for the Netherlands during Euro 2024, where he helped his country reach the semi-finals.

Speaking in July 2024, Gakpo offered a telling update on his positional preference, stating: “I was a left winger before, so that’s always been my preference.”

He added: “But in the last one and a half years, the coach needed me to play somewhere else, and that’s what I tried to do at my best.”

Arne Slot subsequently returned Gakpo to the left wing at Liverpool, a decision the player embraced, and he elaborated on that transition during a November 2024 interview with Men in Blazers.

Gakpo said: “Then this season, the new manager came in, I had a talk with him, and he said, ‘You have to focus on the left winger position… this is your position when you come on or when you start.'”

He described how it reignited something familiar within him: “It felt a little bit, for me, like the old me, like what I did at PSV Eindhoven as well. I feel really good in this position.”

Gakpo went on to outline why the left wing brings out the best in his game, explaining: “I come into more one-v-ones now with my face towards the opponent, where I can really go inside and give a cross, shoot or go outside and give a cross.”

He concluded: “That is more my game, I would say, and where I think I can be really dangerous and help the team the most.”

For De Zerbi and Tottenham, landing a player of Gakpo’s quality and versatility could prove to be the transformative signing that finally unlocks their attacking potential this season.

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