Cody Gakpo names ex-Liverpool star as the 'best' player he's ever played with
The Liverpool attacker has played with plenty of talented stars across his career.
Cody Gakpo has revealed that one of his former Liverpool teammates is the best player he has ever played with.
At 25, he has played for Jong PSV, PSV Eindhoven, Liverpool and the Netherlands national team and rubbed shoulders with plenty of notable names. The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Frenkie de Jong for example but he revealed who the best player has been in an interview with Puma (via Goal).
He revealed that former Liverpool midfielder Thiago was the best player he had ever played with. Having enjoyed only a short time together of a year and a half, the Spaniard spent the majority of that time injured but it is clear that Gakpo experienced plenty of his quality, especially in training.
Jurgen Klopp once said of Thiago: “Wherever he plays next I would be happy to watch. An artist of the game who will only ever paint the most beautiful pictures.” And he isn’t the only one to produce such glowing testimonies for the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich star.
Thiago was forced to retire after leaving Liverpool at the end of last season in the summer of 2023, aged just 33. This was due to ongoing injury issues that plagued the latter half of his career. Pep Guardiola called him a ‘great’ while Michael Owen called him ‘staggering’ - and there really are dozens of other comments that could be pulled up across the course of his career, not just during his time in England.
Gakpo went on to reveal that he idolised Lionel Messi growing up, named Vinicius Junior as the best player in the world right now, Johan Cruyff as the best Dutch player of all time and named Toni Kroos as the best passer in football. He also claimed he would choose former Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli to take a penalty to save his life.