Sporting director speaks out on Liverpool mega deal | OneFootball

© IMAGO - Hugo Ekitike Liverpool

Ekitike will cost at least €100m

Following a number of approaches from clubs in Europe, Markus Krösche - Eintracht Frankfurt's sporting director - felt the need to address the speculation around Ekitike's future.

Speaking via Fabrizio Romano, he said: "If the price isn't right, then we will stay with us."

The journalist added in his post on X, 'Chelsea never sent any bid; only asked for deal conditions two weeks ago and Eintracht wants €100m', further specifying the asking price required to secure Ekitike.

Liverpool will have been keeping a close eye on such an update, given the Reds' desire for a new striker and the financial complexities involved in a potential deal to sign one.

If the deals for Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez go through, alongside the deal for Jeremie Frimpong, then the club will have spent around £192m on three players, with £28m being taken from outgoings.

The last striker Liverpool bought was Darwin Nunez for a deal around £85m, will only bee around £77m if he leaves this summer because several add-ons conditions will not have been met, but Ekitike would cost a similar amount to the Uruguayan, and the risks of such a deal would be high.

At 22 years old, his potential is enormous, and that is essentially what Liverpool would be paying for, as the Frenchman only has one season of note to assess - the 22 goals and 12 assist of last season.

But it seems as though £80m is the going rate nowadays. It was reported earlier this week that the £59m 'gentleman's agreement' in place for Viktor Gyokeres at Sporting is not as watertight as many previously considered it to be, with a deal of around €90m required to open discussions for him.

As such, Liverpool have some significant thinking to do because their transfer spending is already significant and the squad planning that has already taken place should not be disregarded.

The current deals that Liverpool are involved in will need to be finalised before the recruitment team's resources can be pivoted elsewhere, but major decisions will have to take place this summer.