Bad news for Ekitike: Liverpool preparing new bid to sign £100m + star
da imperador bet： Liverpool have long been an ambitious club, but it feels like FSG recognised just how big a superpower Arne Slot’s Anfield side are, having unleashed the dogs in the transfer market this summer.
da bet sport： Giorgi Mamardashvili has arrived to provide competition for Alisson Becker between the sticks, while Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez will redefine Liverpool’s wide berths over the coming years.
Florian Wirtz, who joined in a British-record £116m deal last month, has been called “the best midfielder in the world” by former Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrick Helmes.
And Hugo Ekitike will now join from Eintracht Frankfurt in a £79m package, bringing his intelligent, all-action striking style to the team.
But that doesn’t mean the Premier League champions are done and dusted just yet this summer.
Liverpool's next move in the summer transfer market
Liverpool have bolstered heavily this summer, but, as has been confirmed by Fabrizio Romano, they aren’t done just yet.
Transfer Focus
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With Darwin Nunez up for sale, Ekitike will need a strike partner, and Liverpool are gearing up to make an incredible signing that might just top all others this summer.
Indeed, according to transfer insider Graeme Bailey, Liverpool are still weighing up a new bid for Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak, though it would take a new British-record bid worth £130m to even tempt Eddie Howe into parting ways with his talisman.
Bailey stated: “Liverpool aren’t going away. If there’s a chance of getting him, Liverpool are going to be there. I think the approach was more to say to Isak and Newcastle, ‘don’t forget, we are here and ready to make our move’. That was intrinsically behind it. If Liverpool think it’s doable, a bid could go in, it’s not beyond the realms of fantasy. They’ve already come in and made it clear they’ll pay £120m, so it’s already a bid in everything but name.”
Last week, Liverpool approached Newcastle for Isak before forging ahead with a bid for Ekitike, rebuffed as they were. Even so, the Reds may yet return to sign their dream target.
How Isak compares to Ekitike
If Liverpool have the financial means to sign Isak this summer (and it appears that they just might), Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes might just come together to pull off something special.
Newcastle signed Isak from Real Sociedad for a club-record £63m fee in 2022, and he’s gone from strength to strength since then, now recognised as one of Europe’s leading centre-forwards.
Since his Premier League debut, he’s even managed to hit the back of the net at a more clinical rate than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, which highlights just how incredible a deal this could be for the Reds.
Premier League – Top Scorers Since 22/23
#
Player
Apps
Goals (per 90)
1.
Erling Haaland
97
85 (0.88)
2.
Mohamed Salah
108
66 (0.61)
3.
Alexander Isak
86
54 (0.63)
4.
Ollie Watkins
112
50 (0.45)
5.
Bryan Mbeumo
101
38 (0.38)
Data via Transfermarkt
Moreover, the Sweden international is dynamic and well-rounded as a marksman. As per FBref, he ranked among the top 16% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues last season for shot-creating actions, the top 13% for progressive passes, and the top 7% for progressive carries per 90.
A far cleaner striker than Ekitike, Isak would unquestionably be the most exciting signing of Liverpool’s remarkable transfer window, hailed for his “limitless potential” by Toon boss Howe.
To think that Isak, 25, still has lofty heights to scale in spite of his meteoric rise in the Premier League over the past few years is quite a thing.
Certainly, Slot’s first-class coaching could unlock some depth of his skill set he doesn’t even know sits latent within.
Intelligent, industrious and ever enterprising, Isak would rock the footballing world, were he to move to Merseyside this summer.
If Liverpool were to complete a deal for Isak this summer, it would immediately relegate Ekitike to the second fiddle up top. If that doesn’t make the decisive comment on who’s more exciting, what does?
Related A bigger star than Ekitike: Liverpool enter race to sign £100m winger
Liverpool are consolidating their position at the top of the Premier League this summer.
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