Gakpo officially wins Euro 2024 award as Liverpool forward returns on a high

Liverpool will officially boast a European Championships Golden Boot winner among its ranks when Cody Gakpo returns for pre-season. With the tournament ending in heartbreak for England this evening, the UEFA award is now finalized, and the Netherlands forward will share the honor.

For this iteration of the tournament, it was decided that the Golden Boot would be shared among all top scorers, with no tiebreaking criteria in the event that two or more players finished level. Somewhat inevitably, Euro 2024 duly saw six players all end on the same tally, meaning Gakpo is one of half-a-dozen who took home the gong.

Somewhat incredibly, one of those was Harry Kane, who seemed to really struggle for England. The others to join the Anfield star on three goals were Georges Mikautadze of Georgia, Jamal Musiala of Germany, Dani Olmo of Spain and Ivan Schranz of Slovakia.

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Among that sextet, Olmo was probably the standout, winning the tournament with Spain and playing a starring role in the process. But Gakpo was not all that far behind, standing out in a Netherlands team that struggled to really impress despite reaching the semi-finals.

Intriguingly for Liverpool and especially new coach Arne Slot, Gakpo excelled from the left wing, where he could cut inside on his right foot. Under Jurgen Klopp, the former PSV man had primarily played through the middle, either as a false nine or sometimes even as a midfielder.

It will now be up to Slot to work out how to get the best from the Golden Boot winner at club level. Putting him on that left flank seems like as good a place to start as any, although that sees him run into competition from Luis Diaz, with Diogo Jota also able to play there.

Whatever Slot’s plans, however, it can be no bad thing to get back a version of Gakpo who is brimming with confidence. He received the praise of a nation at Euro 2024 as well as the admiration of other onlookers, with the Golden Boot underlining his good work.

That also built on some good Liverpool form to end the previous campaign, where Gakpo was keeping Darwin Nunez out of the side through the middle. The 25-year-old has been a hard grafter more than a star turn since arriving at Anfield, but perhaps it’s time for him to step up.

Liverpool.com says: Congratulations to Gakpo. Only he (and five others, to be fair) can tell you how it feels to share the award among such a large group, and whether it takes off some of the shine, but it’s still hardly commonplace to be able to call yourself a Golden Boot winner at the Euros. Here’s hoping for a big season.