Cody Gakpo, the unexpected star of Euro 2024, to claim the Golden Boot

Mbappé, Kane, Lewandowski, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lukaku, Kvaratskhelia, Dovbyk... These were the forwards everyone was expecting to steal the show at Euro 2024. Nobody could have predicted that it would actually be Dutchman Cody Gakpo who would be the most efficient scorer in the competition.

With his sights on the semifinals of the European championship, Gakpo is leading the scoring table with three goals, not including his winning goal (2-1) against Turkey, which was stripped from him and credited as an own goal to Mert Müldür.

While his tally is matched by Georgian Georges Mikautadze, Slovakian Ivan Schranz and German Jamal Musiala, those players have all exited the tournament. Gakpo instead now faces challenges from Fabián Ruiz, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane – all on two goals a piece – for the Golden Boot.

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During the tournament, the Dutch forward has scored against Austria and Poland in the group stage and against Romania in the Netherlands' victory in the round of 16. Not counting his 'no goal' against the Turks, which would have placed him as the true leader of the scoring table.

With these three goals, Gakpo has a total of 12 with his national team since his debut in 2021, of which, curiously, he has not scored a single one in friendly matches – all his best work seems to come in the big games for the 'Orange'

He scored his first international goal against Montenegro on September 4, 2021, in a qualifying match for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, where he would score three more goals against Senegal, Ecuador and Qatar.

The rest of the goals for the Netherlands have been in the 2022-2023 Nations League (2) against Wales and Poland; and in the qualifying phase for the German Euro 2024 (3), against Greece, Ireland and Gibraltar.

In this edition of the Euros, Cody Gakpo has scored 25% of all his goals for the Netherlands, establishing himself as a safe bet for his team. With the coming semifinal against England, there is a fair chance he will add to his tally too.

At the club level, his increasing effectiveness as a striker for PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands Eredivisie competition caught the attention of Premier League giant Liverpool, which he signed with in January 2023.

He played six seasons with the Dutch team, between 2017 and 2023, in which he especially stood out in his scoring role in the 2021-2022 campaign, when he scored 21 goals in 47 games, as recorded by Transfermarkt.

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He signed for the Anfield team at the back end of the 22/23 season, where he would play 21 games in all competitions and score on seven occasions. In 2023-2024, he has delivered: 16 goals in 53 games.

His statistics, however, do not exactly make him stand out as a great scorer alongside the big names on the international football scene such as Mbappé or Lukaku, so his run at the Euros this year has been quite unexpected.

Born in Eindhoven on May 7, 1999, Gakpo developed in the youth ranks of PSV, which he entered at the age of 8, in 2007. It would not be until February 25, 2018, at the age of 19 that he would make the leap to the first team – debuting in a match against Feyenoord, as reported by the BBC.

His goals at Eindhoven are some of the most important in the club's history, such as the match winner he scored in the final of the Dutch Cup, now known as the TOTO KNVB Cup, in 2022.

His transfer to Liverpool in the 2022-2023 season was worth a total of 42 million euros (£35m, $45m) according to Transfermarkt, which was the most expensive transfer in the history of the Dutch club.

As for the 'Orange', despite his relatively young age of 25, Gakpo has already participated in a World Cup – Qatar 2022 – and two Euros. The 2020 edition where he played just one match, and the current one where he has a chance of making history.

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