Newcastle United are working on a deal worth around €75million to sign Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike.
While an agreement is not yet close, talks are ongoing between the clubs over a potential deal which would eclipse Newcastle’s previous record transfer – the €71.2m they paid Real Sociedad for Aleksander Isak in summer 2022.
Ekitike’s proposed £20 million-plus transfer to Newcastle United in January 2022 broke down on deadline day but the north east club have continued to keep tabs on the 23-year-old.
Ekitike scored 22 goals and notched 12 assists for Frankfurt in 2024-25 after signing for the Bundesliga club permanently in a deal worth €17.5m in the summer of 2024, following a loan spell from Paris Saint-Germain in the previous season.
Then contracted to Ligue 1 side Reims, the France Under-21 international was unsure about the merits of a late-window move to St. James’ Park three-and-a-half years ago despite the clubs reaching a framework agreement. He then joined PSG in the summer of 2022 on loan with an option to buy, which was exercised.
His current terms with Frankfurt run until 2029. Should he depart the club, it would be the third time Frankfurt have negotiated a high-value departure for one of their attackers in the past two years, with Omar Marmoush leaving for Manchester City in the winter transfer window for a fee in the region of €70-75m, and Randal Kolo Muani joining PSG for €95m in 2023.
Ekitike’s 15 goals saw him tied with former team-mate Marmoush in the Bundesliga goalscoring charts for the 2024-25 season.
He helped Frankfurt to a third-placed finish in the Bundesliga, securing Champions League football for just the second time in the club’s history, the first time qualifying for the competition via league placing.
The German club were knocked out of the Europa League by eventual champions Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals, despite Ekitike scoring the first goal in the 2-1 aggregate defeat.
As reported by The Athletic last month, Manchester United also enquired about the availability of Ekitike this summer, while Chelsea were interested before the signings of Liam Delap from Ipswich Town and Joao Pedro from Brighton & Hove Albion.
‘Ekitike would be a marquee signing’
Analysis by Newcastle correspondent Chris Waugh
There has been a transformation in mood and also momentum in Newcastle’s window. After what felt like a slow-burn start, with near-misses on several targets, suddenly there is optimism about what can be achieved ahead of their return to the Champions League.
Caution must be applied, because a fee is yet to be agreed with Frankfurt and Newcastle have twice tried and failed to sign Ekitike before, in the January and summer windows of 2022, yet even being seriously in the conversation for the Frenchman once more underlines the ambitions of the ownership.
Should Newcastle conclude this deal, then Ekitike would represent a marquee signing, similar to when Alexander Isak arrived in August 2022 and Sandro Tonali joined the following July. Ekitike is a player with elite potential and would really boost Newcastle’s firepower.
The obvious follow-up question is what this means for Isak’s future, and the insistence is that Newcastle want to boast both among their frontline options. How Eddie Howe would keep that pair plus Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga happy is unclear, and the finances involved in retaining them all will stretch Newcastle from a PSR perspective, but those are enviable “problems” to have.
Concluding a transfer of this magnitude is not straightforward and it is far from complete yet, but this latest development feels extremely encouraging for Newcastle fans.
(Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
Source link
