Liverpool have today officially completed the signing of Eintracht Frankfurt’s 23-year-old French striker Hugo Ekitike in a deal that could see the Reds eventually pay £79M inclusive of add-ons to bring in the rising star.
Ekitike arrives on Merseyside off the back of a breakout Bundesliga season that saw the forward score 22 goals and add 12 assists in 48 appearances, good for a goal involvement every 107 minutes across all competitions.
Those impressive numbers, including assists, speak to Ekitike’s versatility as an attacker, able to drop off and link up play as well as run the channels and dribble at defenders to create chances for himself and teammates.
Ekitike is also a willing and tireless presser off the ball. In that sense, his is a profile more similar to previous Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino than to the striker in the current squad he nominally replaces, Darwin Nuñez.
Comparisons to Newcastle’s Alexander Isak also seem natural, though Ekitike is on one hand less polished than the Swedish star—and on the other works harder off the ball and doesn’t have Isak’s worrying injury history.
If there is a weakness to his game beyond that he is still perhaps a little raw with just the one truly standout season at Frankfurt to point to, it’s that despite standing 1.9m (6’3”), Ekitike couldn’t be called aerially dominant.
In every other way, though, he’s one of Europe’s top young attackers, in 2024-25 rating 90th percentile or better amongst strikers for expected goals and assists, shot creating actions, carries, and progressive pass receptions.
Liverpool have also been tracking Ekitike closely for some time and tried to sign him before his ill-fated decision to join Paris Saint-Germain in 2022, making him a player it’s clear the recruitment team very much believe in.
The fee is high, but for a Liverpool side that headed into the summer with striker arguably their biggest question mark it’s not hard to see why he ended up being the answer for Arne Slot’s defending Premier League champions.
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