Manchester City have now opened formal discussions with Liverpool over a fee in the region of £85m, moving ahead of Tottenham despite Spurs also registering serious interest in the 27-year-old.
Liverpool's position remains firm, however: the club wants two further forward signings in place before it will even contemplate letting Gakpo go, with just three days of the window remaining to find them.
Money is not the only complication. Gakpo signed a long-term extension last year that runs to 2030, giving Liverpool little incentive to accept anything below their valuation, and the picture has been sharpened further by the club's move to complete a £123m signing of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain - a forward who, like Gakpo, is most effective cutting in from the left. That overlap in profile has fuelled speculation that Gakpo's route out of Anfield may now be more about squad fit than reluctance on Liverpool's part.
City, for their part, are searching for attacking reinforcements having sold Savio to Tottenham for £85m, and see Gakpo's proven Premier League pedigree as a significant upgrade.
Since his £44m arrival in 2023, Gakpo has scored 51 goals in 182 appearances, and while last season saw a dip in form, he remains a contributor from Liverpool's title-winning 2024-25 campaign, when he scored 18 goals in all competitions.
Form has not been an issue so far this term: Gakpo scored in Liverpool's opening game against Newcastle and set up Alexander Isak's equaliser in Saturday's dramatic 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, hardly the display of a player with one foot out of the door.
Liverpool's leverage in the negotiation is significant given how late in the window the interest has materialised, and the club is well aware of the precedent City themselves set only days earlier by accepting £85m for a considerably less prolific player in Savio.
Whether City are willing to match or exceed their own recent valuation benchmark could ultimately decide whether the move gets done before Tuesday night.