Hugo Ekitike transfer news: Liverpool open talks with Eintracht Frankfurt for striker amid Newcastle interest | Football News

slick24 seconds ago

0 0 3 minutes read

Liverpool opened talks with Eintracht Frankfurt to sign Hugo Ekitike.

The club made its approach after Sky Sports News On Tuesday, they were to compete with Newcastle for the attacker.

Sky Sports News Includes Newcastle is aware of Liverpool’s interest and examines their options.

Liverpool moved to Ekitike after saying that Alexander Isak was not for sale in this window.

The Premier League champions have always been interested in Isak, but it is understood that Newcastle has no interest in selling its attacker and in valuing it at least 150 million pounds sterling.

The Reds have developed the market all summer for possible center -forward options, establishing availability and the price – but they did not make an offer for Isak.

Sources on Merseyside insist that no official contact has been established between clubs, unlike reports elsewhere.

The offer of 70 million pounds from Newcastle for Ekitike this week

Sky Sports News Indicated Tuesday that Frankfurt rejected the official offer of 70 million pounds Sterling from Newcastle for Ekitike, the Bundesliga Club promoting the striker at 85 million pounds Sterling.

Newcastle had interviews with the representatives of Ekitike in Austria on Monday, while they are looking to sign the attacker on which they have kept an eye on several years.

Newcastle tried and did not sign Ekitike in 2022 when he chose Paris Saint-Germain instead. Frankfurt then paid PSG at only 14 million pounds sterling for the 23 -year -old last summer.

Isak is the current current signature of Newcastle clubs after joining an agreement of 63 million pounds from Real Sociedad in August 2022.

Ekitike scored 22 goals in 48 games all competitions last season for Frankfurt when he helped them qualify for the Champions League.

He was a target of Manchester United this summer after the club explored the conditions for an agreement, while Chelsea was also interested with Liverpool.

Newcastle has spent 55 million pounds sterling on a major summer signature until now after the arrival of Anthony Elaga from Nottingham Forest.

Ekitike ready for the next step after the Bundesliga breakthrough

Adam Bate of Sky Sports:

When Hugo Ekitike was still a teenager at Stade Reims, the coaches staff prepared a development plan for him. They analyzed the performance of Kylian Mbappe, then chose two other players that Ekitike could realistically realize to reproduce.

“They were players with similar profiles of teams that were better than our team, but not at the distance that Paris Saint-Germain was from us,” said Oscar Garcia, then Reims head coach, said Sky Sports. “We challenged him to reach the level of the other two attackers.”

At first glance, it was a perfectly reasonable short -term target. Before his last season in Reims, Ekitike had not even scored a goal in the first level of France. He had spent the second half of the previous campaign on loan to the Danish club Vejle Boldklub.

He returned to Reims as a fourth choice, but quickly forced Oscar to reassess. Shortly after, the two attackers who had been encouraged to strike the level were no longer in sight. “In a few months, he wanted to reach the same level as Mbappe.”

It is a story that offers an overview of the state of mind of the Frankfurt Eintracht striker who has long been linked to a premier League move.

“He has always been a talented player, but some coaches did not like him because of his profile and sometimes because of his character,” concedes Oscar. “They thought he was a little arrogant. He always wanted to be compared to the best.”

Learn more about the climb of Hugo Ekitike here.