Let it stay with him.

It may not have escaped anyone that Cody Gakpo and his girlfriend brought the news to the public last weekend that their unborn child has died. Nevertheless, Gakpo will simply remain with the Netherlands squad for the World Cup in North America.

This decision can count on a lot of support from former PSV player André Ooijer, who from 2020/2021 until the middle of 2022/2023 saw Gakpo at PSV as assistant coach to Roger Schmidt. This is what Ooijer says in the WK Avond program on NOS.

Ooijer is especially irritated by the opinions of outsiders surrounding the situation involving the former PSV striker. “You hear people now saying that he should go home and that he isn’t mentally ready. Then I think to myself: let Cody decide for himself,” the 55-times capped international says to NOS.

According to the former defender, there is only one person who can make the decision in such a situation. ''It’s a mature, very stable young man—let him make the choices he has to make. Have respect for what he himself thinks, and if he then says: I can’t play, or I can’t handle it. Leave it with him. I hear things in the media from time to time, and then I really think: what business is it of yours? You don’t know that player and you don’t know the situation. Leave that young man alone'', Ooijer continues.

Then Ooijer discusses the situation surrounding the stillborn child of former teammate at Orange Khalid Boulahrouz during the 2008 European Championship in Austria & Switzerland shortly before the match Netherlands - Russia (1-3) in the quarterfinal. ''We experienced it ourselves with Khalid Boulahrouz in 2008, but leave it with the one it belongs to. They draw strength from it or they don’t,'' said the former PSV player.

Ron Jans also agrees with Ooijer’s words. ''These are life truths. Let people decide how they deal with them, and let that be up to them'', concludes Jans.