Liverpool’s attack is being rebuilt and there are new faces around.
Mohamed Salah has gone, Victor Munoz has arrived from Osasuna, Rio Ngumoha is expected to be given real responsibility, and the club have been pushing hard for Bradley Barcola in what could become a record deal.
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Somewhere in that reshuffle sits Cody Gakpo, and the question of whether there is still a place for him.
Tottenham Hotspur think there might not be.
Roberto De Zerbi is trying to fix an attack that produced one of the worst returns in European football last season, following two consecutive 17th placed finishes, and the club have backed him heavily.
Martin Dubravka, Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi arrived without fees, while a combined sum reported at around 237 million pounds went on Jan Paul van Hecke, Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali.
Savinho remains the primary winger target, and De Zerbi has publicly promised supporters another significant signing.
Fabrizio Romano has now moved the Gakpo story forward, and confirmed that the interest has already translated into conversations.
“Cody Gakpo is a target for Tottenham,” he said on his YouTube channel.
“They had contacts with the agency of the player.”
“Spurs believe he can be the right addition for De Zerbi.”
“It depends on the price.”
That final sentence is where the deal lives or dies, because the selling club are not motivated.
“Liverpool are not pushing Gakpo out,” Romano added.
“The only way to open doors is if Tottenham present a really good financial proposal.”
Figures circulating in the English press have suggested Liverpool would want somewhere in the region of 70 million pounds, a considerable ask for a player whose league form dipped badly last season.
That dip is worth examining rather than simply noting.
Gakpo was miscast for much of the campaign, asked to hold width on the left after Luis Diaz departed for Bayern Munich, in a side where Salah’s decline on the opposite flank left less room to drift inside.
His numbers since arriving from PSV in January 2023 remain healthy, with 73 goal involvements in 180 appearances, and he was excellent at the World Cup this summer in the freer, more central role the Netherlands consistently give him.
De Zerbi’s system, fluid and positionally loose, would suit that version of him.
There is another complication.
Fenerbahce have met with the Dutch forward, but reports in Turkey indicate Gakpo would only consider a move within Europe’s top five leagues, which narrows the field and strengthens Tottenham’s hand.
Nothing is imminent.
But if Barcola arrives at Anfield, the squad arithmetic changes quickly, and a club with money to spend has already made the first call.