While Liverpool are looking to land a record-breaking deal for Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, the club have now made an official approach for Hugo Ekitike.
News of Liverpool’s contact with Newcastle emerged on Tuesday, with the Premier League champions scoping out a potential move for Isak.
Though the insistence from St James’ Park is that the Swede is not for sale, there are further claims that a package worth around £130 million would tempt them to part ways.
Newcastle‘s own advances for Ekitike – including an unsuccessful £65 million bid – suggest that they are planning for life without Isak, even if it is maintained that the two would play together.
Liverpool have now made their own approach for the Eintracht Frankfurt striker, as The Athletic‘s David Ornstein reports.
While the specifics of the club’s contact with Frankfurt are unknown, the likelihood is that this was an initial enquiry to learn what it would take to secure a deal.
Ekitike will have already communicated his willingness to head to Anfield, which appears to have also been the case with Isak.
That this development comes less than 24 hours after Ornstein’s report on interest in Isak may be telling, with it widely perceived that Liverpool would push for Ekitike to strengthen their hand in talks with Newcastle.
A tall, nimble centre-forward comfortable working in the channels as well as dropping deep to link play, Ekitike is stylistically and statistically similar to Isak.
Such is the similarity in their recent output that 23-year-old is seen as the best like-for-like alternative to Newcastle‘s No. 14.
While that could suit Liverpool in the event they are unable to strike a deal with their Premier League rivals, an optimist would read the situation as Newcastle having already identified Isak’s successor.
Clearly Isak is prepared to leave Tyneside and all indications are that his preferred move would be to join Liverpool.
And while Newcastle are averse to selling the Sweden international, with three years left on his contract, they may be forced into a decision if he pushes for the exit himself.
Liverpool’s public pursuit of Ekitike could therefore serve as a message for both Newcastle and Isak himself to make a decision swiftly.
Frankfurt are reported to value Ekitike at around €100 million (£86.5m), which is just clear of the fee paid to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica in 2022.
Ekitike is a chart-topping goalscorer
While Liverpool’s analysis is far more refined, with Harvard graduate data scientists and vast teams of scouts and analysts, a quick search highlights why Ekitike would stand out.
No striker aged 23 or under across Europe’s top five leagues scored more than the Frenchman in all competitions in 2024/25.
Ekitike scored 22 goals in 48 appearances across the Bundesliga, Europa League and the DFB-Pokal, which is one more than the second-highest, fellow Liverpool target Benjamin Sesko.
No under-23 striker scored more than 20 and the only others to net more than 15 were PSG’s Goncalo Ramos (18) and Rennes’ Arnaud Kalimuendo (18), with Ligue 1 considered the weakest of those top five leagues.
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