Hugo Ekitike episode reinforces how brilliant Eddie Howe has been with recruitment at Newcastle United | OneFootball

FC Reims President Jean-Pierre Caillot told French media on 1 June 2022, that the Ligue 1 club had accepted an offer from Newcastle United for the transfer of a then 19 year old Hugo Ekitike.

The Ligue 1 club’s President saying that the FC Reims hierarchy were very happy with what Newcastle had offered…but now it was up to the player himself and his representatives, whether the deal was completed.

It became a real saga of that summer 2022 transfer window for Newcastle United fans, waiting to hear confirmation that the move had been finalised.

Then eventually on 16 July 2022, 45 days after Newcastle’s offer was accepted by FC Reims, Hugo Ekitike was announced as PSG’s new signing.

The young striker later explained to French media what had happened with that transfer saga.

Hugo Ekitike saying that he would have been more than happy to sign for Newcastle United but his dream as a young French striker was to sign for PSG. He had been told that PSG were interested in signing him BUT no talks on a transfer could take place until Luis Campos officially PSG that summer as their new football adviser, in charge of ‘organisation, recruitment and performance’ at the French club.

There was also talk of PSG having to wait until the new financial year (after 30 June 2022) before signing anybody and they made their first two signings on 1 July 2022, midfielder Vitinha and left back Nuno Mendes. Hugo Ekitike then announced on 16 July.

Hugo Ekitike interviewed by Le Parisien, why he ended up signings for PSG and not Newcastle United, what actually happened:

‘Did you put Newcastle on hold this summer, despite the agreement with Reims, because you were waiting for PSG?’

“I had an appointment with Luis (Campos) which meant a lot for me. It was not so long ago.

“We talked a lot, he is someone I consider enormously. I wanted to come to PSG before this exchange but it convinced me even more.

“I don’t put aside everything Newcastle did to get me to come.

“If I had to go abroad, I would have gone there.

“But when PSG wants you and you’re French, you can’t refuse.”

PSG eventually paid a reported £25m to land the young striker.

Many Newcastle United fans then took great pleasure in the fact that the PSG move turned into a disaster for Hugo Ekitike. At the time they had a stellar set of attacking options, including Mbappe, Messi and Neymar.

Hugo Ekitike had scored 10 goals in 15 Ligue 1 starts (plus nine sub appearances) for Reims, that had attracted the interest of PSG, Newcastle United and many others, but when he did games for PSG he struggled, only three goals in 25 Ligue 1 appearances, including 12 starts.

A lot of Newcastle supporters seeing it as a lucky escape, thinking this one had turned out to be a rare Eddie Howe mistake, he and the NUFC recruitment team wanting to sign a young striker who then ended up not being up to the job.

Fast forward to the current day and what is the case with Hugo Ekitike?

Well, he eventually went to Eintracht Frankfurt, leaving PSG on loan and then later a £15m permanent sale.

In 48 appearances for the Bundesliga side, Hugo Ekitike has 29 direct goal contributions (21 goals and eight assists), with 23 of them (17 goals and six assists) having already come during this current 2024/25 season.

Hugo Ekitike is still only 22 but has been a key player as Eintracht Frankfurt currently sit third in the Bundesliga, five points clear of fourth,, whilst they cruised into the last 16 of the Europa League finishing fifth in the league phase.

Hugo Ekitike wouldn’t be the first young striker to take time to develop and as I say, he is still only aged 22 and in this kind of form already.

Now there are widespread media claims in both French and German media that Hugo Ekitike could belatedly move to the Premier League this summer. With a number of (unnamed) PL clubs said to be keen on signing the young in-form striker and a transfer fee possibly as high as £60m to land him.

Newcastle United haven’t been named as a club allegedly interested in signing Hugo Ekitike and having appeared to have him lined up for around £25m as a 19 year old, it would be tough to then spend £60m this coming summer on the same player.

What it does for me though, is simply underline how stunning the recruitment of players has been under Eddie Howe, these past three or so years.

We all now about how good so many of them have been that Eddie Howe actually signed, the likes of Botman, Gordon, Isak, Tonali and so on.

However, there also have been many signings that United definitely appeared to be trying to buy but missed out on, who have also proved to be stars in the making.

I think fair to say that Hugo Ekitike is looking the part and at the weekend we saw another one. Only 20 and also recruited from Ligue 1, Abdukhodir Khusanov looks an excellent addition for Man City, he helped keep Isak and Gordon very quiet on Saturday. All the main painful when it had been revealed by the player’s agent that Khusanov had been lined up to sign for Newcastle United with all the groundwork done, only problem Newcastle needing to wait until the summer window due to PSR holding them back, with Man City jumping in to steal him away from United in January.