Liverpool are understood to be ‘significantly within the race’ for a centre-forward who might value upwards of £80m this summer season.
The Bundesliga has been a preferred marketplace for the Reds in recent times and that appears set to be the case but once more as Richard Hughes seeks to execute a double raid on Bayer Leverkusen for Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz.
One other star of the German prime flight who’s reportedly on LFC’s radar is Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike, who may very well be on the centre of a switch tug-of-war between the Premier League champions and a home rival.
Liverpool in talks to signal Ekitike
Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg took to X on Wednesday to share an replace on Liverpool’s curiosity within the 22-year-old, who each Arne Slot and FSG’s chief govt of soccer Michael Edwards are desperate to recruit.
The journalist posted: ‘The subsequent huge goal from the Bundesliga: Perceive Liverpool at the moment are significantly within the race for Hugo Ekitike! Talks have taken place. Slot/Edwards eager on him.
‘The largest rival for the time being: Chelsea. Eintracht Frankfurt haven’t but acquired a suggestion. Markus Krösche nonetheless demand (sic) €100 million (£83.8m).’
(Photograph by Maja Hitij/Getty Photographs)
What qualities might Ekitike carry to Liverpool?
There may very well be a niche within the Liverpool squad for a centre-forward this summer season if Darwin Nunez is bought – on Wednesday, we solely reported on Empire of the Kop that the Uruguayan is searching for a ‘recent begin’ elsewhere.
Ekitike may very well be a shrewd acquisition if he can replicate the shape that he confirmed in serving to to safe a spot within the 2025/26 Champions League for Eintracht Frankfurt, having scored 22 objectives in all competitions this season and likewise equipped 12 assists.
Franck Chalencon – who coached the French ahead when he was in Reims’ academy – described him as a ‘very intelligent participant’ with an ‘intuition for objective’ (TNT Sports activities), and that reward is borne out on the 22-year-old’s statistics over the previous 12 months compared to different strikers in Europe’s 5 foremost leagues.
As per FBrefEkitike ranks among the many prime 7% of that specified subset for pictures per 90 minutes with 3.74, together with the highest 6% for shot-creating actions per recreation (3.5). He’s additionally very direct in possession, that includes within the 96th percentile for progressive carries (3.04) and profitable take-ons (1.9) per match.
With Wirtz set to value greater than £100m, spending one other £84m or so on the Eintracht Frankfurt striker mightn’t depart a lot in reserve for additional switch exercise at Liverpool this summer season until important sums are banked from participant gross sales.
Nevertheless, FSG wouldn’t be coming into talks over the Frenchman in the event that they weren’t satisfied that he’d be an infinite asset to the Reds, so let’s see how this story develops over the approaching days and weeks.
