Romano announces €35m Liverpool signing – but the Reds stand to make a €100m mistake

Updated: 31 Aug 2026 11:33 BST | 4 min read

Robin Bairner | Chief Editor

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Liverpool’s transfer window is spinning to an unbalanced and confusing conclusion, with Fabrizio Romano announcing the Anfield club’s latest deal.

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Lucca Brughmans is set to join Andoni Iraola’s squad in a €35 million deal from Club Brugge, with the deal set to be finalised in 2027. With Alisson 33 years old, this was clearly an important move to help secure the future of the goalkeeper role on Merseyside, yet the club have bigger concerns looming in the final hours of the transfer window.

One of those is the future of Cody Gakpo. Liverpool are ready to sell the Netherlands star to Manchester City in a deal worth €100m (£85m), but they are threatening to make an expensive mistake by doing so.

Current ETV

Cody Gakpo

F, M (L)

Liverpool

Cody Gakpo

F, M (L)

Liverpool

ETV Range

€50.4M - €61.6M

Why Liverpool can’t afford to let Gakpo go

Gakpo was Liverpool’s best attacker in a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest at the weekend, according to Gary Neville.

The winger created a tap-in for Alexander Isak, and the former England defender believes he gets through a lot of underappreciated work.

“It's bizarre, the noise that Gakpo might leave. He looks like their best forward, he's a real danger,” he told The Gary Neville Podcast.

“Someone like him can maybe not be appreciated at times. I never underestimate a player who does a lot of scruffy things, but he always keeps coming back, he always wants the ball, he's always there, he's always near something, and he does contribute with goals and assists.”

Neville’s opinion is backed up statistically by data analytics firm SciSports, which rates Gakpo as the Reds’ second-best player via its SciSkill metric, which is calculated using hundreds of in-game data points.

He is also currently higher rated than Bradley Barcola, who is his imminent and expensive replacement at Liverpool.

This suggests that offloading the 27-year-old is a mistake that Iraola’s squad, which Neville claims has been left “well short”, could suffer from.

© SciSports - Cody Gakpo vs Bradley Barcola, Career Development

Liverpool are making the wrong moves

Indeed, there are surely more pressing priorities for Liverpool to address in the final hours of the transfer window.

Anyone watching the Reds could immediately identify that both full-back roles are looking especially weak, with Jeremie Frimpong’s lack of defensive acumen set to be a major headache for as long as Conor Bradley is injured.

“We used to criticise Trent Alexander-Arnold for his defensive work, but he is a lot better as a defender than Frimpong and he used to contribute 15 to 20 assists a season and I don't think Frimpong will,” Neville pointed out.

In the centre of midfield, too, Liverpool look short of options. Beyond the excellent starting trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, there is a dearth of options, even if the club holds the belief that Trey Nyoni will have a breakout season.

The Reds looked overstocked in certain areas and badly undercooked in others, yet none of their current business appears designed to address a problem that seems apparent from the outside.