Gakpo: Pundit urges Liverpool to ‘hijack’ Man Utd’s move after previously telling Chelsea to

Jason Soutar
Cody Gakpo celebrates a goal

Glen Johnson clearly does not want to see Cody Gakpo join Manchester United.

Earlier this month, the ex-England right-back told his former club Chelsea to hijack United’s pursuit of the Netherlands forward.

Johnson was impressed by Gakpo’s performances at the World Cup and thinks he has shown enough potential to prove he can cut it in the Premier League.

The Red Devils are expected to lodge a bid to sign the PSV Eindhoven talisman when the transfer window re-opens in a little less than two weeks.

Arsenal have also been somewhat linked with Gakpo, but it does appear that United are leading the race and should find it fairly easy to agree a fee with PSV.

After catching his eye, Johnson claimed that the 23-year-old would be a top signing for Chelsea – who “need Gakpo more than Liverpool”.

And he has now backed another of his former teams to sign the player ahead of United.

Johnson reckons £50million for Gakpo is “cheap” and has encouraged Liverpool to “hijack” the deal.

“£50 million is cheap nowadays, so if you can get a young, quality player for that price, then you’ve got to do what you can to hijack it,” he said.

“I’d encourage them to hijack the move purely for how good the player is rather than the fact he could be going to Manchester United.”

Gakpo recently admitted that he would consider a move to Old Trafford if United come calling in 2023.

Leeds United and Southampton tried to sign Gakpo last summer, while United had a tentative interest, but were focusing on the signing of Antony from Ajax.

The 23-year-old admits summer speculation was “tough for him”.

“That was a tough period,” Gakpo told Dutch newspaper NRC. “I learned from that. I’m going to do it differently. What comes, that comes.

“Suppose you want to go from RKC (Waalwijk) to PSV, but that club is not coming. Then you can panic.

“I thought about Manchester United, but when that didn’t happen, I couldn’t remember. And I started to doubt. Leeds United did come. Should I go there?

“Now I wait (for) everything. I haven’t heard from Manchester United yet. When they come, I’ll think about it. I also seek the help of God in these decisions.”

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