The last days of the transfer window were extremely chaotic for a lot of clubs, especially those in the English Premier League, as clubs scrambled to add an extra level of depth and talent to their squads.
In the end, however, there was one player who was targetted by several clubs that did not move and that we believe had the potential to be a real game changer at the top level.
That player is the 23-year-old Dutch international winger Cody Gakpo of PSV Eindhoven.
Throughout the summer transfer window, we saw Gakpo linked to a number of clubs, including Manchester United before they settled on the addition of the Brazilian winger Antony from Ajax, but in the end, Gakpo has stayed in the Eredivisie for at least the next half a season.
Now, we should be clear at this point that recruitment from the Eredivise does not come without its risks.
The Dutch top-flight is extremely open and attacking and as such it can be difficult to accurately judge the quality of a prospective new signing from that league, difficult that is, but not impossible.
Any example of good recruitment in the modern game is driven by the buying club doing their due diligence on their prospective new signing.
That will include doing a scout report on a player, both on video and live, references from players or coaches who have worked with the player and, of course, data analysis.
In this tactical analysis article, we are going to concentrate on the latter as we break down the game of Cody Gakpo in order to understand why the likes of not only Manchester United but also Southampton and Leeds United were keen on adding the explosive Dutch attacker to their ranks this summer.
Given the fact that the 2022/23 Eredivisie season is still in its infancy, we will be using data from the 2021/22 season.
Cody Gakpo Player profile
The first thing that we should make clear at this point is that Cody Gakpo is not your typical Dutch winger from a physical perspective.
He is listed at 189cm | 633 and he has a powerful and athletic build.
He is a
