Does Ekitike Interest Suggest Isak Interest is Over? | OneFootball

When you’re a major football club like Liverpool, transfers are a hugely complicated business. As much as supporters, tricked into how things work by computer games like FIFA and Championship Manager, might like to think otherwise, the job of Richard Hughes, Liverpool’s Director of Football, isn’t an easy one.

There are constantly balls in the air, no pun intended, with moves and counter-moves being made in order to secure the players a club wants for the price that they think is fair. Now it looks as though a proposed move for Alexander Isak is over, but is that right?

What’s Happened

No sooner had Liverpool supporters positively burst with excitement at rumours linking the club with a move for Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak, it now looks as though the club has decided to go in a different direction. Today, reliable journalists are reporting that French forward Hugo Ekitike has emerged as the next signing on the Reds’ radar. The club has seemingly entered the advanced stage of negotiations with Eintracht Frankfurt, Ekitike’s current side, putting forward an offer worth in excess of £70 million in order to try to convince the German side to sell up.

The interesting thing about the move for the player is that Newcastle have been negotiating with Frankfurt for him for the last few days, having a £70 million offer rejected. That is the reason that many people think that Liverpool’s offer will exceed that amount, given the fact that they will need to persuade the German club to part with their star striker. It has caused Ekitike to end their pursuit of the 23-year-old, which is suggestive of the fact that the club do not expect to lose Isak this summer. That is doubled with the fact that the Reds are unlikely to sign two number nines in the same window.

Does it Actually Signal the End of Our Isak Interest?

The reality is that Liverpool are, at least on paper, unlikely to chase two number nines this summer. There is also the fact that the Reds have already spent an initial £100 million signing Florian Wirtz, so adding £70+ million for Ekitike and then putting another £130+ million on Isak is extremely unlikely. That being said, we are almost certainly going to see Darwin Núñez leave before the window shuts, with Napoli a possible destination for him. Then there is the fact that Bayern Munich are reportedly keen on signing Luis Díaz to mean that we will suddenly look quite light up front.

SonoGrazy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

For whatever reason, the manager doesn’t seem to fancy Federico Chiesa, whilst the incredibly sad passing of Diogo Jota means that Liverpool could head into the 2025-2026 season with just Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo as experienced options in the front three. Whilst no departure for Chiesa has been confirmed, nor are the club particularly keen to sell Díaz, there is little doubt that one of the best things we had on our side last season was options in the final third and they aren’t as prevalent this time around. That is why any move for Ekitike isn’t necessarily signalling the end of a blockbuster move for the Newcastle striker.

What Ekitike Would Bring to Liverpool

Whilst many supporters have been dreaming of adding Isak to our list of attacking options for a long time, the braintrust working for the club tend to think a little bit more outside the box than that. Across 48 appearances in all competitions last season, Hugo Ekitike scored 22 goals and assisted 12 more, which is a decent return. He is also a much more rounded player than Núñez, willing to drop deep in order to pick up the ball and stitch play together. He is tall and boasts a number of technical qualities, meaning that he would dovetail well with Mo Salah when the Reds move up the pitch.

As Saudi Arabian-owned Newcastle United look to switch their interest to Brentford forward Yoane Wissa, Liverpool can hope to get the deal for Ekitike sewn up pretty quickly. That is a crucial thing for the manager, whose pre-season preparations are already underway. He will want his squad to be working together as much as possible over the next couple of weeks, given the fact that there are a huge number of chances taking place in it this summer. It is the French striker’s versatility that will no doubt appeal to Arne Slot, who we know admires the manner in which Paris Saint-Germain can cause trouble from numerous different directions.