Liverpool head coach Arne Slot addressed the media for the first ever time on Friday.
Slot has been in situ at Liverpool for the past few weeks having taken over from Jurgen Klopp.
With pre-season getting underway over the weekend though, Friday represented the debut for Slot in front of the cameras at the AXA Training Centre.
The new head coach answered all sorts of questions as he faced a full room of reporters.
Reds fans were perhaps most interested to hear what Slot had to say about members of the Liverpool squad as he gets to know his new players.
Arne Slot raves about Cody Gakpo
Slot did not go into too much detail around specific members of the Liverpool group. In fairness to the new boss, he only meeting some of them for the first time.
Due to the ongoing international tournaments, there are only eight senior players reporting for duty on Slot’s first day.
However, the Dutchman has still been able to watch Liverpool players at the European Championship and Copa America and get to know them that way.
Obviously, as a person from the Netherlands, Slot will be keeping a close eye on how his country are getting on over in Germany.
While watching on, the Liverpool head coach cannot have failed to have been impressed by Cody Gakpo.
And after being asked about Gakpo during the press conference on Friday, Slot admitted that the 25-year-old had caught his eye.
“I’m hoping he will step up a bit even more, especially in the quarter-final!” laughed the former Feyenoord boss.
“No, Cody has had a very good tournament, like in the World Cup as well. He’s been impressive until now and I only hope he can continue doing so in the upcoming games.”
Cody Gakpo catching Arne Slot’s eye already
Having found the going difficult at times since his £44m move in January 2023 better things appear to lie ahead for Gakpo at Anfield.
The former PSV Eindhoven winger is catching the eye at exactly the right time. Gakpo has arguably been the star player at the whole of the Euros this summer.
As Daniel Sturridge expertly observed, the Dutch forward has looked ‘like a different player’ under Ronald Koeman.
As Slot says, hopefully that will continue into Saturday’s quarter-final with Turkey and beyond.
Gakpo was the only player Slot mentioned and critiqued by name during his first press conference. That bodes excellently for him for this season and beyond.