Cody Gakpo remains a key target for Manchester United and Phil Hay and Carl Anka have discussed what makes the PSV Eindhoven man so valuable.
Writing for The Athletic, the pair went into detail about his incredible performance during his time as a youth player in the Netherlands.
Twan Scheepers, who coached Gakpo at PSV Eindhoven under-11, said: “Yes, he often scored nine goals, something like that.
“The score could be 16-3, 16-2, and I would score a lot. But afterwards he never talked about the goals or how many he had scored, or didn’t talk about it as a good thing. (Instead, he was) If he scored nine, how could he score 12?
“How could he run better or how could his technical skills be better? Those were the conversations we had, every time.”
That dedication to self-improvement has never dissipated. Gakpo has a keen sense of professionalism, but it is his technical skills that have always drawn attention first.
“It’s the dribble,” Scheepers says of Gakpo’s most valuable asset. “One-on-one, passing the opponent at high speed, getting the right moment in front of goal. As we say in the Netherlands, he could always find the shortest way to the goal.
“As a defender, you would be worried about playing him because in an instant he changes the game. Even in the 94th minute he believes in always being in the right place, because something can happen”.
Finding the shortest path to goal has definitely become a habit this season. He currently has eighteen goals this season.
But to speak only of his goals would undermine his creative sense, as the Dutchman also recorded ten assists in the same period.
That record gives Gakpo a goal contribution roughly every 58 minutes this season for club and country, an astonishing level of productivity for any winger.
He certainly seems ready to step up.
“Right now, you could definitely say he’s too good to play in the Eredivisie,” says Voetbal International’s Lentin Goodijk. “It’s so deadly when he gets the space against teams that don’t defend as well.”
While his outrageous productivity would surely see some form of success in the Premier League, even half the cash that he is would see him among the best wingers in the game.
As PSV captain, he has taken responsibility well (to say the least) and is instrumental to his team’s overall game.
It’s hard to imagine him not being a central figure under Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, should the club manage to sign him. 
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