Liverpool have confirmed the £79million signing of striker Hugo Ekitike.
The Eintracht Frankfurt No 9 is anticipated to affix up with the squad in Hong Kong within the subsequent 48 hours for coaching classes however is unlikely to play in Saturday’s fixture in opposition to AC Milan.
Ekitike, 23, joins on a six-year contract and has been on Liverpool’s radar for some years, with Mail Sport first revealing in March that he was a high goal.
Liverpool have been involved with Ekitike since January and Arne Slot knowledgeable the Frenchman of his intention to signal him on the finish of the season simply gone.
The Reds’ knowledge assessments confirmed that nobody apart from Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe scored larger of their knowledge assessments for No 9s.
Slot’s males do see him as a central striker however acknowledge that he can play off the wings too.
Liverpool have confirmed the £79million signing of French striker Hugo Ekitike
Arne Slot’s males see him as a central striker however acknowledge that he can play off the wings too
Slot knowledgeable the Frenchman of his intention to signal him on the finish of the 2024-25 season
The bundle is a £69m base charge plus £10m in add-ons that are primarily based on group and participant efficiency. The Frenchman has joined on a six-year deal and underwent his medical on Tuesday.
Sporting director Richard Hughes has remained within the UK for now to finalise this switch after Arne Slot’s squad departed for the Far East on Sunday evening after beating Stoke 5-0 in a behind-closed-doors sport on the AXA Coaching Base in Kirkby.
The champions performed two totally different beginning line-ups earlier than and after half-time and Florian Wirtz, the membership file addition, received his first aggressive motion for the membership following his £116million transfer from Bayer Leverkusen.
The likes of Jeremine Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Giorgi Mamardashvili have additionally featured, having joined for £29.5m, £40m and £29m respectively.
These 4 signings have taken the Reds’ summer season spending previous £290m as they proceed to splash the money and look to enhance on a season that noticed them turn into Premier League champions for a second time.
Final week, Newcastle had a suggestion of £70m rejected for Ekitike, which fell £16m in need of his launch clause.
Liverpool have additionally been linked with a transfer for Newcastle striker Alexander Isak however that transfer stays in query, particularly after the main outplay for the France Beneath 21 worldwide.
Final season Ekitike scored 22 objectives in 48 video games for Frankfurt in all competitions, with 15 of these strikes coming within the Bundesliga.
Liverpool’s Sporting director Richard Hughes has remained within the UK to finalise the switch
Newcastle had a £70m bid rejected final week as they fell £19m in need of his launch clause
Ekitike will fly out to Hong Kong to fulfill his new team-mates for pre-season this week
He was additionally named within the Bundesliga group of the season following a massively spectacular marketing campaign. Ekitike was beforehand at Paris Saint-Germain, initially on mortgage from Reims earlier than becoming a member of completely.
Nevertheless, he solely made 33 appearances for PSG in complete and scored 4 objectives.
Liverpool have already been closely lively within the switch market this summer season, with a number of acquainted faces leaving Anfield in a summer season of churn.
Trent Alexander-Arnold joined Actual Madrid, whereas Jarell Quansah signed for Bayer Leverkusen and Caoimhin Kelleher made the change to Brentford.
The Reds are additionally anticipated to promote quite a few stars earlier than the window closes, with the likes of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliot all closely linked with strikes away.
