Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike has revealed that he is a Manchester United fan, prompting speculation that he could end up at Old Trafford this summer. Liverpool and Arsenal are also among those to have been put forward as possible destinations for the 22-year-old.
Ekitike has been in sensational form in the Bundesliga this season. Previously at PSG, a team that has since pivoted to focusing much more on young talents like him, Ekitike failed to break into the starting XI with the French giant after a move from Reims, and his career has only really ignited since he moved to Germany.
Domestically, Ekitike has scored 19 goals and laid on another eight for his club teammates in all competitions. He scored a hat-trick against England U21s in a friendly during the international break.
Eintracht Frankfurt paid PSG a modest fee of just $18 million (£14 million) to sign Ekitike after a successful loan spell. He is expected to move on again this summer with a price tag of $87 million (£67 million) — even more than Manchester City paid the same club for Omar Marmoush in January.
In an interview with Eintracht Frankfurt’s YouTube channel, Ekitike said Manchester United was his “favorite” club as a child. Milos Kerkez, the Liverpool-linked Bournemouth full-back, has admitted similar previously.
PSG knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League despite no longer having Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. Ekitike would be much better suited to its aims now than before — though he says he learned plenty in Paris.
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“I trained on a daily basis with the best players in the world,” Ekitike recently recalled in an interview with L’Equipe. “I would have been the dumbest player, the stupidest human being if I hadn’t learned.”
When looking ahead to the future, Ekitike said: “I’m focused on my club. But I know that if I want to take a new course, I’ll be better prepared than last time.”
Liverpool.com says: Ekitike looks like a real player. And having experienced life at an elite club before, he would move to the Premier League with a better knowledge of what it takes to make it at the very top. Liverpool is no stranger to looking at talents who are still yet to explode having ‘failed’ at other big teams. Mohamed Salah, for instance, had been written off by Chelsea by the time he moved to Anfield in 2017.
