Jurgen Klopp says Cody Gakpo has been doing something ‘outstanding’ for Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp believes Cody Gakpo’s defending from the front for Liverpool has been ‘outstanding’.

Now the Holland international must become more composed in the final third to hit the Reds goal trail.

Gakpo joined Liverpool from PSV Eindhoven for an initial fee of £37 million on the opening day of the January transfer window. And despite firing 13 goals in the Netherlands before his move to Anfield - as well as three at the World Cup - he is still to net for Liverpool.

The 23-year-old has been thrown into the deep end somewhat with injuries. Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz are all sidelined while Darwin Nunez missed two games.

Still, Klopp’s been delighted with Gakpo’s work off the ball so far - and is confident goals will come.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Brighton, the Liverpool manager said: “His defending is outstanding. OK, we bought a striker and talk about defending but his defending in the central position is outstanding. That's what we need. Everybody in this team is used to when the ball goes to the side into the [number] six, everyone is around. All of a sudden there's no-one there. Against Chelsea, there were two sixes.

“That's the engine room of a football pitch and we just let them pass the ball - whoops, done. That's not possible. You can see in his finishing, he is a sensational finisher and his shooting from distance is outstanding but in the games, he's a bit in a rush and in the moment not in the right position and the ball he cannot even see that. It’s an extreme strength from him and everybody will see that.

“I’m completely happy. People will say he didn’t score but coming in as a striker in our team in this moment, congratulations, and then getting judged because you don’t score, that’s really cool. But internally it’s all fine, he’s fine, he’s a smart boy and really wants to learn. He’s a really good listener so everything is fine for him.”