Liverpool get Hugo Ekitike injury update as France involvement decided after Brighton blow | OneFootball

Reds striker lasted just nine minutes of defeat on the south coast

Arne Slot will breathe a sigh of relief after Liverpool star Hugo Ekitike was deemed fit enough to join up with the France squad for the March international break.

He appeared to be in considerable pain as he left the pitch in tears, walking with a pronounced limp.

An injury for Ekitike would not have been helpful for Slot, who has also been without big-money summer signing Alexander Isak for much of this campaign.

Speaking at full-time, the Dutchman explained Ekitike’s injury was “bad enough not to be able to continue.”

He added: “Of course, it was a big blow for us that one of the two strikers we have available is already not here [Alexander Isak] and then the other one [Ekitke] has to go off.

“That’s usually not helpful, especially when you look at how well Hugo played on Wednesday [against Galatasaray in the Champions League].”

But he seems to have avoided a crisis as Ekitike joined up with the France national team camp ahead of the impending friendlies against Brazil and Colombia.

This is France’s final camp before the World Cup, and, thus, it was not one to miss.

Ekitike was only called up to his nation’s senior team for the first time in September and is not nailed on to make the plane to the United States this summer.

He must compete with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Randal Kolo Muani for minutes as a centre-forward.

It is a squad stacked with attacking talent, too, with the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, Desire Doue and Rayan Cherki all called up.