InterviewOne year of Cody Gakpo at Liverpool: 'I love being here'
Cody Gakpo is loving life at Liverpool as he now targets personal and collective success in his second year at the club.
Thursday marked exactly 12 months since an agreement was reached for the Dutch forward's transfer from PSV Eindhoven, marking the beginning of his journey at Anfield that has seen him score 14 goals from his half-century of appearances.
Gakpo feels totally settled on Merseyside and credits the love given to him from the supporters as a reason for his quick adaptation period.
The No.18 told Liverpoolfc.com: "A year with obviously really good moments, some lesser-good moments, but I'm happy to be here and hopefully beautiful moments to come.
"I really feel at home and I think the club is amazing. It's like a big family. The supporters are amazing every game and show love to all of us. I appreciate it and I love being here."
On his aims for year two, the 24-year-old stated: "I hope to achieve a lot – on a personal level as well. But as a team we have big dreams and big goals. We are working on that.
"I think it always takes some time for every player in a new place to settle a little bit but I felt [at] home quite fast.
"It's an amazing club and hopefully many more beautiful moments will come for me and for the team."
Jürgen Klopp's Reds currently sit top of the Premier League at the halfway point in the campaign.
They begin the new calendar year by welcoming Newcastle United to Anfield on Monday night, with Gakpo and his teammates looking to maintain their occupancy of first place.
He continued: "I think we are doing really good from the beginning of the season and we have a good group.
"This game, even though we are in first place, we just go into this game like it's a really important game – like every other game.
"Of course it brings pressure to be in the top position in the league but I think we don't see it like that. We are just really focused on that one game we have to play in that moment, and I think that's also a strength of the team.
"They [Newcastle] have a really good team. Obviously we have to work really hard, we have to fight together, stick together even through the difficult moments maybe that will come in the game – hopefully not but it's a world-class team as well.
"It's hopefully going to be a great game with us on top at the end."