Hugo Ekitike flying to join Liverpool pre-season tour TONIGHT

Hugo Ekitike has completed his £79 million move to Liverpool and the striker will waste no time in meeting his new teammates, heading straight to Hong Kong.

Ekitike has been officially unveiled as Liverpool’s seventh signing of the summer, with the Frenchman arriving from Eintracht Frankfurt.

Liverpool confirmed the deal on Wednesday evening, days after Arne Slot and his squad flew to Hong Kong for the first leg of their pre-season tour of Asia.

Typically a high-profile signing will be announced with a bespoke unveiling video along with an interview with the club’s in-house media.

But Ekitike will instead fly directly to Hong Kong on Wednesday night before conducting media duties at the team hotel.

That will include his first thoughts on joining the Premier League champions as part of a £295 million spend that has also seen Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Freddie Woodman and Armin Pecsi sign.

Frankfurt will receive an initial fee of £69 million for their No. 11, with a further £11 million negotiated into the deal in add-ons.

If those performance targets are reached it will be the third-most expensive transfer in the club’s history so far, behind only the £116 million spent on Wirtz and the £85 million paid to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica.

Ekitike’s switch is expected to bring the departure of Nunez, who is subject of interest from Saudi Arabia, while Luis Diaz and Federico Chiesa could also leave in the coming weeks.

Liverpool are yet to confirm permanent squad numbers for any of this summer’s signings as they await the commencement of their new kit deal with Adidas.

That comes into effect on August 1, with the Reds wearing last season’s Nike kits in friendlies, training and off-field duties until then – including the first photos of Ekitike in a Liverpool shirt.

It remains to be seen if Ekitike will take part in the first of two friendlies in the Far East, which comes against AC Milan in Hong Kong on Saturday.

He is likely to join training on Thursday, meaning he will have taken in a handful of sessions maximum, with it seeming more realistic that he will be integrated for the clash with Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan next Wednesday.

* You can follow all Liverpool’s pre-season friendlies live with All Red Video, the new video offering from the club that replaces LFCTV. Purchase All Red Video here.