Hugo Ekitike admission confirms future | OneFootball

Liverpool looked to have taken a bit of a gamble when Hugo Ekitike joined in the summer for £79m.

Of course, that includes his full-transfer fee with add-ons considered. £69m was the guaranteed amount. But it's a lot to spend on a striker who appeared to have just one good season to his name.

It helped knowing that his standout campaign - 22 goals and 12 assists for Frankfurt - was last season, so his arrival on Merseyside was on the back of a career best effort. Although, the 23-year-old still had a lot to prove and it'll take a little while until he'll have proven his valuation was accurate.

But his importance to the Reds cannot be understated. So far this season, he's delivered six goals and one assist in 15 appearances, playing regular minutes and keeping his fitness in check. All is well.

He's contracted until 2031, so Liverpool will get plenty of years out of him. But his latest admission in an interview with the press has all-but confirmed that he's got what it takes to be a long-term player.

Ekitike is destined to be ELITE

Speaking to Lewis Steele at the Daily Mail, the Frenchman talked about his ambitions as a footballer and how he's used every experience he's had in his career to become a more potent attacking asset.

After all, during his time at Paris Saint Germain, he played alongside Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Lionel Messi and Neymar. And after that season, he was alongside Omar Marmoush.

He said: "I can't face [up to] people and say that I'm going to do the same things as these players on the pitch... But if I can take [a] little, even without the ball, from their game, I would because I really watched them a lot during my time at Paris Saint Germain. I'm still watching them. I try to take things from the players I love.

"[I try to copy] Messi's vision. Sometimes I try to see things earlier, before I receive the ball. Naymar, I took some tricks and skills, ball control. I took the runs of Kylian, he could do great runs without the ball. So many things, it is difficult to list. I definitely took stuff from their game[s].

"I like to watch players and try to add to my game to make me more complete."

In essence, alongside the raw talent that Ekitike has, Liverpool have bought a sponge which is perhaps the best thing they could have done with their money. The modern game is changing all the time and one dimensional players will struggle to adapt when things start going against them.

The Frenchman isn't one of those, he's got so many different assets to use in his tool kit that he can always pose a threat, even if he finds himself struggling in a game. His adaptability can almost be looked at through the prism of former-Red Darwin Nunez, who was chaotic in his role as striker.

The 23-year-old has refined chaos, illustrated by the different goals he scores and the different positions he pops up with. Against a deep block, he can make quick passes and snatch finishes, as well as excelling on the break when he's given bundles of space to run into. He's multi-faceted.

Calling him complete would be an over exaggeration, but he's more than capable of becoming everything Liverpool could want in a striker. The underlying numbers behind his performances were good, as only Mbappe and Erling Haaland scored higher on Liverpool's data-models, per the report, but it's Ekitike's willingness and desire to be the best player he can be which sets him apart.

His future at Liverpool isn't in doubt. We're only four months into his time with us, and as mentioned earlier, he's contracted until 2031. But we shouldn't expect to see Liverpool needing to replace him until long after his current deal expires, given how adaptable he is. The Reds have got a superstar.