In £70m Hugo Ekitike transfer, Liverpool have another piece of their post-Salah vision | OneFootball

Perhaps Hugo Ekitike spoke too soon. Back in February, the forward was feeling reflective. “Sometimes I sit at home and think, 'Wow, it’s been a year already,'” he said. And that was before a summer squabble for his services that saw a big from his long-term admirers at Newcastle and the prospect of a move to Liverpool that would make him one of the most expensive signings in their history.

A striker who says he has an interest in fashion has become fashionable. Not for the first time, either. The eventual verdict – perhaps Ekitike’s own – was that his 2022 move to Paris Saint-Germain came too soon. He got the experience of understudying the Galacticos of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar and then overlooked as Luis Enrique forged a younger forward line to conquer Europe.

Right club, wrong time? Maybe. A quick player was fast-tracked to the top, but had to take a step back to get first-team football. Now he looks proof of Eintracht Frankfurt’s ability to unearth bargains and improve players and of Liverpool’s willingness to raid the Bundesliga. They are in advanced talks to buy him. He is eager to come.

Liverpool turned to Ekitike after an inquiry about Alexander Isak did not get an encouraging answer. It was telling: sleek, quick strikers can have similarities. Ekitike, newly turned 23, almost three years younger than Isak, can look at a similar stage as the Swede was when Newcastle signed him in 2022, ready to explode, providing he is in the right environment. That Newcastle wanted to have both adds an intriguing hypothetical of how they would fit together.

Instead Ekitike, like Florian Wirtz, should be added to the attacking equation at Anfield. They may be shaping the front half of their team for years to come; if each succeeds, they offer a glimpse of Liverpool beyond Mohamed Salah.

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Hugo Ekitike has made a name for himself at Eintracht Frankfurt (Getty Images)

What Ekitike shares with the Egyptian is a capacity to look unstoppable when in full flight. Like Isak, as well as many a French forward of past and present, he shares an ability to run at defenders at pace and a fondness for the inside-left channel. Unlike Isak, he can be seen as a work in progress. In November, Eintracht manager Dino Toppmoller advised him to cut out some of the flicks and tricks. “What he did with his heel passes didn’t exactly blow our mind,” he said.

It is sometimes an indication a young player is working out how to channel his talent. For now, there is the case that Ekitike’s impact was not reflected in front of goal. He scored 22 times last season, 15 of them in the Bundesliga, and both tallies are more than respectable.

But if Germany can look a finishing school for Liverpool players, given how many are bought from the Bundesliga, finishing presented an issue for Ekitike last season. He dramatically underperformed his expected goals; by 6.6 on fbref’s model, 8.09 on Understat’s. He had most shots in the Bundesliga last season; as Darwin Nunez’s Liverpool career shows, shot volume does not always have a direct correlation with goals.

The numbers can suggest a persistent threat but an erratic finisher. Or Liverpool could note that another shotaholic, Salah, scored 15 Serie A goals in his final season at Roma and became more clinical and prolific at Anfield.

Certainly there has been a fondness at Anfield, both from former manager Jurgen Klopp and those involved in recruitment, for forwards who are quick and relentless, rather than those who contribute little other than cold-blooded finishing.

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Huge Ekitike starred in the Bundesliga last season (Reuters)

Ekitike’s prominence suggests he would be a good fit. The Frenchman’s return of 3.74 shots per 90 minutes and 1.49 on target would, if produced in last season’s Premier League, put him fifth and third among all players respectively. Liverpool can look at their supply line and Ekitike’s ability to get into good positions and could be entitled to feel he might replicate those numbers. His Bundesliga total of 0.29 expected assists per 90 minutes would, if translated directly, have put him in the top 10 of last season’s Premier League, which featured Salah but no other Liverpool players.

And if there is the inevitable question of the relative strengths of the Premier League and the Bundesliga, the latter proved a fine grounding for players such as Roberto Firmino, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ibrahima Konate. Liverpool have since been shopping there again for Jeremie Frimpong and Wirtz.

It may bode well that Ekitike scored against each of the rest of the top five in last season’s Bundesliga, plus in both knockout rounds of the Europa League; it is harder to paint him a flat-track bully. Some of his goals were tap-ins but there are times when it pays to be a poacher.

Certainly it pays to be Eintracht Frankfurt who, after selling Omar Marmoush in January, have made a second huge profit on a forward. Ekitike stayed on to help them finish third. It has been quite a year for them, and for him. Next year, potentially his first at Anfield, could prove quite a season, too.