Cody Gakpo
Cody Mathès Gakpo (born 7 May 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a winger for Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national team. Club career. PSV. Early career. Gakpo was born in Eindhoven and raised in the district of Stratum. His father was born in Togo and has Ghanaian ancestry, while his mother is Dutch. In 2007, he moved to the youth academy of PSV Eindhoven, where he then progressed through all of the youth teams. For the 2016–17 season he was part of the reserve team Jong PSV for the first time, but  mainly featured in the U19 team. Gakpo made his professional debut in the Eerste Divisie for Jong PSV on 4 November 2016 in a game against Helmond Sport. In the rest of the season he only made one more appearance for Jong PSV. After his production increased in the following season's U19 Eredivisie with seven goals and five assists in 13 league games, he was finally promoted to the reserves at the turn of the year. In his second appearance in the second-tier Eerste Divisie, on 19 January 2017 in a 3–2 away win against De Graafschap, he  scored a brace and made the assist for the third goal of his team. For Jong PSV, he managed to score seven goals in the 2017–18 season, which he achieved in 12 league games. First team. In the 2018–19 season, Gakpo was able to further improve his performances. This was also noticed by first team coach, Mark van Bommel. He was selected several times for the matchday squad of the first team in the first half of the season. He would initially, however, remain an unused substitute. Instead, he made his debut in a 4–0 away win against Excelsior Maassluis  in the KNVB Cup on 26 September, where he also scored a goal. In the 5–1 home win against the Go Ahead Eagles on 3 December 2018, he scored the first hat-trick of his professional career. After he scored a goal and got an assist in the 5–2 home win against Almere City on 21 December, he made his debut in the Eredivisie just one day later. In the 3–1 home win against AZ, he was substituted on for Steven Bergwijn in the closing stages. He scored nine goals in ten league games for Jong PSV by the end  of the year and was subsequently promoted to become a regular member of the first team. On 3 February 2019, he scored his first league goal in his second appearance in a 5–0 home win over Fortuna Sittard and also assisted another goal. By the end of the season he made 14 league appearances, but without being able to record another goal. In the 2019–20 season, he made his breakthrough in the Eredivisie and recorded seven goals and as many assists in 25 league games. On 13 September 2020, the first matchday of the 2020–21 Eredivisie season, Gakpo scored his  first brace for PSV, contributing to a 3–1 win over Groningen. He scored another brace on 24 September in the 5–1 victory in the UEFA Europa League qualifier against NŠ Mura, allowing PSV to qualify for the play-off round. He was again decisive there, on scoring PSV's second goal in a 2–0 win over Rosenborg on 1 October. He finished the season with 29 appearances, in which he scored 11 goals. International career. He was called up to the Netherlands squad for UEFA Euro 2020 and made his debut in the third match of the group stage against  North Macedonia as a substitute in the 79th minute for Frenkie de Jong. Thereby, he became the first Netherlands player to make his international debut in European Championship since Martien Vreijsen in 1980. Style of play. Usually deployed on the left wing, Gakpo often cuts inside on his right foot to move to a more central attacking position, and uses his speed and dribbling skills to take on defenders until he finds the space to make an attempt on goal. Honours. PSV