Hugo Ekitike is the seventh signing of Liverpool’s summer and the first addition to their forward ranks, with Arne Slot expecting him to play multiple roles.
Ekitike joined Liverpool in a deal worth up to £79 million on Wednesday, following goalkeepers Giorgi Mamardashvili, Freddie Woodman and Armin Pecsi, full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez and attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz.
It comes after a wide-ranging search for a new No. 9 even before the departure of Darwin Nunez is finalised, with the Uruguayan now expected to move on.
But while Ekitike is a natural striker, Slot is planning to utilise the 23-year-old’s versatility – which could even suggest another centre-forward is brought in this summer.
According to the Times‘ Paul Joyce, Slot “views the player as a multi-functional centre-forward who, while primarily playing as a No. 9, can also operate wide or perform as a second striker.”
“Liverpool believe that Ekitike’s ability to bring team-mates into play, operate in tight areas and also stretch defences mark him down as a future star should he maintain his trajectory,” Joyce adds.
That would mark the Frenchman as a forward similar to both Luis Diaz and the late Diogo Jota as much as it would mean an upgrade on Nunez himself.
It is clear that both Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes favour versatility, particularly in their attackers, and Ekitike’s ability to play across the forward line will be very useful.
That description of the club’s plans for their latest signing could suggest there is room for another top-level striker to join.
Interest in Alexander Isak has not been downplayed by any source as of yet – not even simply for this summer – and the Swede has now been omitted from Newcastle’s pre-season tour of Singapore and South Korea.
While it is maintained that Isak has missed out due to a minor thigh injury he was left out of a friendly against Celtic on Saturday due to the speculation over his future.
To purely speculate on Isak’s future at this stage would do a disservice to the calibre of talent Liverpool have already brought in with Ekitike.
“This summer’s signing has been led by underlying data, rather than top-level statistics, and by the work of Will Spearman, Liverpool’s director of research, and his team,” writes The Athletic‘s James Pearce.
“Ekitike’s goal tally [of 22 in 48n games] was not vast last season, but Liverpool did not regard that as a reason to be deterred.
“He performed well in other metrics, and Liverpool expect his goal return to increase over time.
“Even allowing for the limited nature of historical tracking data, Liverpool’s analysts felt that, relative to other centre-forwards, only Erling Haaland and [Kylian] Mbappe have shown similar potential to Ekitike at a comparable age.”
Despite the lofty £79 million fee representing Liverpool’s third-most expensive signing of all time, the club believe he “will eventually be worth more than what they have committed to paying.”
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