Nestled between Rijen Houses on the outskirts of Eindhoven is where Cody Gakpo chose to start this story.
The Cruyff rights, as they are now called, certainly look a bit different than the one he played for hours; The concrete surface has disappeared, but the soul, the feeling of the place, remains some of Gakpo's happiest childhood memories.
Back for the first time as a Premier League champion at the place where he grew up so much, he fulfills him with enormous pride.
“You know, when you are young, you just do what you want and I would like to play a lot of football, so that's what I have done a lot,” he says.
“I wouldn't believe you if you had told me that I would be a Premier League champion, I wouldn't think about it.
“If you are here, it will remind you of everything you have experienced, we have achieved something very special this year.”
Within minutes there is a message out and a small crowd starts to gather, all hoping to get a glimpse of the Liverpool star.
Gakpo, born in a house in a short walk from these cages, represents the dreams and ambitions of so many people who patiently wait to get a photo and a quick word at the end.
He was made here in Eindhoven and became one of the best in a place known as the “city of innovation”. Gakpo has just started.
I ask where he retains the medal of the winners. “It's now in England, but when my father comes back from Africa, I think I should give it to him. I can't keep it myself. So I have to win again, so maybe I can keep it.”
His father, Johnny, is part of what this story weaves together and without him Gakpo may have not experienced any of the most memorable seasons of his life.
Gakpo managed 18 goals in all competitions and one of them came when, for him, above the rest – the home game against Manchester City at the beginning of December, who won Liverpool 2-0. “It felt like an explanation: we are here and we really want to compete with them.”
The day that the club finally won the title against Tottenham, there was another when Gakpo played a key role. From the moment he woke up, he had an idea how it would unfold.
“I thought this day just couldn't go wrong. So even when Tottenham scored, I think that nobody in the field had a worried feeling or something, because we knew that we would close the deal that day.”
When he scored, Gakpo celebrated by lifting his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with the expression 'I belong to Jesus,' Kaka's iconic moment after the final of the Champions League of 2007.
The T-shirt had been at home for a while, but he was convinced that he would score on such a historical occasion and is going to smile while talking about how Kaka has been in contact ever since.
He remembers “I think, because for many players it was the first time and it was the biggest competition in the world, it was very special, and an emotional day for everyone involved.
“I think we were all very proud at the time, we are still last season, but it also gave us a lot of hunger that we want to do it over and over again, and even we felt a bit of frustration that we were beaten out of the Champions League, because then we might have had something special.”
Even the most fervent Gakpo fans in Eindhoven cannot be this season or predicted Liverpool's story when Arne Slot took over from Jurgen Klopp. It was a transformation that even the locals, who are proud of that innovation, would be proud of.
“It is his detail that is great,” says Gakpo when we are talking about why his Liverpool career is flourishing this season under the Dutch coach and how the team surprised the rest of the Premier League.
“In some games you just saw how he was, he would say to Virgil to make a small change, and then you see the entire team adjusting, and then we might score a goal or defend better and when it comes out, you really believe in what he wants. You know how he wants to play, and then you have to adapt.”
I ask what he is like as a person; The side that we often do not see, the Ibiza Titlewinnende-Party-Celebrations-Side to-Slot.
Gakpo laughs. “He is just very normal. When we start training or when we do a meeting, he is very focused on what he wants us to do, and what he wants to teach us. He is very serious, also very demanding, of the quality, of the intensity, but when the training is over and we may do a team activity or something, and he is very relaxed.
“I think everyone likes him as a person. Of course, if you win, it makes it a little easier. Occasionally, like in the Derby Against Everton, we saw a little raw emotion of the manager, but I think he is generally very calm and he often tries to talk to logic. He doesn't let the emotion be better off.”
The next part of the story of Gakpo takes us on a short walk through the park of the Cruyff rights benches to the place where the foundations were really built. His biggest football inspiration was closer to home in a grassy piece of land in the shade of the house where he was born.
Gakpo played under Ruud van Nistorrooy, Ronald Koeman, Klopp and Slot, but there is one coach who was the most difficult of all.
“Dad was by far,” he says, pointing to the Cruyff rights benches. “Playing football there was nice bit, but the hard work was done here. The most difficult, but also the best. I stay with him as a coach, I can't fire him!
In my early teenage years I may not enjoy it so much, but if I look at what it brought me and we still do it, I just really enjoy it. “
Even after a Champions League game, if things have not disappeared as he had hoped, the couple in the back garden will be discovered through exercises. “It means that I can also spend time with him, I no longer live in Holland, so then those moments are also spending time with him. We really enjoy doing that, but it is still difficult.”
Gakpo's father was a football player in Togo, his mother, a rugby player for the Netherlands and the couple met when she traveled the world, where they both eventually moved to Eindhoven.
During the day, Gakpo talks about making big decisions in life and how it has formed its path.
“Think about that,” he says, now sitting next to his two brothers in the garden of the new family house.
“Mama made that big decision and then for my father to make the decision to leave Africa to come to Europe, is also a big decision,” he says, now sitting next to his two brothers in the garden of the new family house.
“You need both situations, you must be very strong mentally. That is what they have learned at the end of all this, how you can deal with such situations and how you can always look at yourself. How can you do better and how can you be honest with yourself and to grow.”
It is that courage in his conviction that comes through more than one of the sporting genes, although they certainly played their role. The feeling of faith, the drive the ambition – and, as his brothers make both jokes, the stubbornness – that brought him so far.
It was clear from the age of seven, when Gakpo arrived at the PSV academy. Even before the club built a state-of-the-art complex, PSV had a reputation of feeding and developing brilliant young players. The will of Phillip Cocu, Arjen Robben and Memphis Depay stare down from the walls of the building and, most recently, Gakpo.
Twan Scheepers, who worked with Gakpo when he first arrived, knew early that he had something special.
“Football was his life,” he says. “He showed it when he was about 10 years old. He was an inspiration, not only for the coaches, but also for the players around him. We looked at his skills and attributes and we thought:” Ok, he's becoming a good player “.
“What made him strong was that he worked hard every day. He wanted to get everything out of his capacities. His strength and his mentality, it's incredible. His conviction to be the best player of the team or the best striker, he always wanted to do more.
“When he scored two goals, he wanted to score three goals. When he was a bit depressed or his progress was not going as he wanted, he had the resilience and strength to come back. It is incredible.”
Scheepers is still at PSV and stays close to Gakpo and his family. He had the privilege of viewing him in Anfield in recent years.
“The first year is difficult to adjust,” he adds. “But he always had the opportunity to get better and also adapt. Liverpool, for Cody, was a big step. A very big step, but he made it.”
Thank you, he partly believes the confidence that Slot gave him this season; The feeling that he really belongs to be arranged. It is when he thinks Gakpo is at his best.
I ask what he hopes that Gakpo can reach the next five years, after he has secured his first Premier League title.
“Sorry that I have to say this to all Liverpool fans, I don't know where his level can be or can stop if he stays in this form and stays fit. His mentality can bring him everywhere. Against Madrid or Munich, those are the rumors I hear, or if he stays in Liverpool for five years. Whatever he decides, I hope he is happy.”
The stories that Gakpo link to Bayern Munich have been a constant this summer, but while we go to our last stop of the day, the mural of Gakpo next to the Philips Stadium, you don't get the feeling that he is in a hurry to go somewhere.
“I think if you go somewhere, and I am very grateful that I can play for Liverpool, one of the best clubs in the world, then you are there, the goal is that you as a team win trophies and leave a legacy for the teams to come and then, when you play in that team that wins a lot, you are a important part of the club. That is what we all go” “
I ask him about what his former coach and friend Scheepers said he excelled in a comfortable and familiar environment. “Yes, that's true”. With that in mind, how much hopes to be near that club in the coming years, to see what they can achieve?
“I hope to be in the neighborhood for as long as possible, because what Twan said is good. For everyone, when they feel at home in an environment, they are loved by the people in the club, and clearly by the fans, who are great in Liverpool.
“It gives you more energy and desire to give them something back. We have a team that is still quite young in some positions, and hopefully we can stay together for as long as possible and achieve something very nicely.
“For a club like Liverpool we have to focus very high on the Champions League. That is the highest price in Europe that we can win – and that is what we will fight for again next year.”
In the coming weeks, Gakpo will give the opportunity to reset. He spends time with his brothers and joins their father in Togo to make contact with family and friends again, to give back to those who have helped him on his journey so far.
It has already taken him from Eindhoven to Liverpool and next summer Gakpo wants to further dominate on the world stage as part of a Dutch team that wants to lift the World Cup for the first time.
“That would be great,” says Gakpo. “That is also a goal we are all fighting for. We now have many players who reach top teams, and this only gives us more quality and depth in the team. Hopefully it will take us very far next summer.”
This makes there a small group that appears, waiting for a photo with him for his mural. Someone else rolls through the car window and shouts how much they love him.
One can only imagine what this city would be like if they achieve that next year.
View the Cody Gakpo interview on Sky Sports News at 10.30 am 2.30 pm 8.30 pm on Wednesday.