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It was announced today that Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo has been withdrawn from the Netherlands national team ahead of Euro qualifiers against France and Gibraltar due to an unspecified virus and will recover away from the squad before rejoining Liverpool.
The national team confirmed that a total of five players including Gakpo, Sven Botman, Matthijs de Ligt, Joey Veerman, and Bart Verbruggen had been withdrawn and that Stefan de Vrij, Ryan Gravenberch, and Kjell Scherpen called up to round out the squad.
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— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) March 23, 2023
Sven Botman, Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Ligt, Joey Veerman & Bart Verbruggen left our training camp this morning. They are suffering from a virus infection. Get well soon, boys.
ℹ️ https://t.co/rl3bdGKlWT pic.twitter.com/gOTOFCQj8U
The specific nature of the virus was not confirmed by the team but the expectation is that Gakpo would likely be available in time to take part in Liverpool’s early Saturday kickoff coming out of the international break in nine days when they face Manchester City.
Following that game, the Reds have a tough run with Chelsea on Tuesday, April 4th and Arsenal on Sunday the 19th. Leeds, Nottingham Forest, and West Ham then round out the month, and Liverpool will need to be near perfect to keep their top four hopes alive.
Update: The virus impacting the Netherlands national team is reportedly believed to be due to food poisoning from a bad chicken curry.
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