Liverpool are expected to rival Newcastle for Hugo Ekitike after being told Alexander Isak is not for sale in this window.
The Premier League champions have always been interested in Isak but it is understood Newcastle have no interest in selling their striker and value him at least at £150m.
Liverpool are set to turn their attentions to Eintracht Frankfurt’s Ekitike, who was the subject of a rejected club-record bid from Newcastle in the last 24 hours.
The Reds have been scoping out the market all summer for possible centre-forward options, establishing availability and price – but they have not made an offer for Isak.
Sources on Merseyside insist no formal contact has been made between the clubs, contrary to reports elsewhere.
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Amid rumours linking him with a move to Liverpool, take a look at our picks of the best goals from Alexander Isak’s Premier League career so far with Newcastle
Arsenal have been another club interested in Isak this summer but they are now closing in on a deal for Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres.
Ekitike is one of the other top strikers on the market this summer along with Victor Osimhen, Benjamin Sesko and many more.
Newcastle’s £70m bid for Ekitike already rejected
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Take a look at all of Hugo Ekitike’s goals and assists from the 2024/25 season as Newcastle step up interest in signing the striker from Eintracht Frankfurt
Sky Sports News already reported that Frankfurt rejected Newcastle’s formal £70m bid this morning – as first reported by Sky Germany.
Frankfurt believe there are other clubs who have signalled they are willing to pay more for the striker, whom they value at £85m.
Newcastle held talks with Ekitike’s representatives in Austria on Monday, as they look to sign the striker they have kept tabs on for a number of years.
Newcastle tried and failed to sign Ekitike in 2022 but he chose PSG instead. Frankfurt then paid PSG just £14m for the 23-year-old last summer.
Isak is Newcastle’s current club-record signing after he joined in a £63m deal from Real Sociedad in August 2022.
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The Athletic’s David Ornstein gives his view on what a potential arrival of Hugo Ekitike may mean for Alexander Isak at Newcastle
Ekitike scored 22 goals in 48 games across all competitions last season for Frankfurt as he helped them qualify for the Champions League.
He has been a Manchester United target this summer after the club explored the conditions of a deal, while Chelsea have also been interested along with Liverpool.
Newcastle have spent £55m on one major summer signing so far following the arrival of Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest.
Isak is Liverpool and Newcastle’s No 1 choice
Sky Sports News’ Keith Downie:
It’s a very delicate situation. Liverpool would like either of the two strikers, and Newcastle would like both.
Liverpool very much like Alexander Isak but have been told he’s not for sale. Newcastle are desperate to hold onto him this window, he’s got three years left on his contract and the club are in a very strong position.
Expect Liverpool to come to the table now in the race for Hugo Ekitike. Frankfurt have felt there are a couple of other clubs who were willing to spend more than the £70m that Newcastle had offered and seen turned down.
You speak to any Newcastle supporter and they would say that only they could at one stage have potentially both players and 24 hours later have potentially neither, but that’s not the case.
I fully expect Alexander Isak to remain at St James’ Park this summer, and Newcastle will dig their heels in and reject any approaches.
Their attempts to bring in Ekitike will be a lot more difficult now though, knowing Liverpool are interested.
Liverpool have money to spend, they need a new striker and Isak would’ve been their number-one choice. But he is Newcastle’s number-one choice too.
Analysis: Ekitike is another Isak in the making
Liverpool are looking at Hugo Ekitike as Alexander Isak is not for sale
Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz:
Alexander Isak’s strike partner? His replacement at St James’ Park? Or Liverpool’s back-up option for the Newcastle forward? Which one will it be for Hugo Ekitike?
The 23-year-old is commanding a huge £85m transfer fee and the German club know what they are doing.
They are fully aware that Ekitike has the potential to be one of the top No 9s in Europe – they do not want the forward’s sale to look cheap in a few years’ time.
Parallels can be drawn to the £63m club-record fee Newcastle paid for Isak. It looked like an expensive deal for the then-Real Sociedad striker – but certainly looks like a good piece of business for the Magpies now. If the reports are to be believed, Isak is now worth at least double that.
That is not the only comparison between the two forwards – as everything points towards Ekitike being another Isak in the making.
Stylistically, the two players are identical in terms of being a shot-heavy forward, but also capable of creating chances and laying on assists.
And in many metrics, Ekitike went at a better attacking rate in the Bundesliga last season than Isak did in the Premier League.
The near-identical numbers between the two not only shows why Newcastle are lining up Ekitike, but why Liverpool can turn to the Frankfurt striker as an alternative if their Isak pursuit, as is expected, proves unfruitful.
Hugo Ekitike has identical numbers to Alexander Isak
At least one of these strikers will move around, but the only question is where?
Ekitike ready for the next step after Bundesliga breakthrough
Who is Frankfurt striker Ekitike?
Sky Sports’ Adam Bate:
When Hugo Ekitike was still a teenager at Stade Reims, the coaching staff prepared a development plan for him. They analysed the performances of Kylian Mbappe and then picked out two more players that Ekitike might realistically aspire to replicate.
“These were players with similar profiles from teams that were better than our team, but not at the distance Paris Saint-Germain were from us,” Oscar Garcia, Reims’ then head coach, told Sky Sports. “We challenged him to reach the level of the other two strikers.”
On the face of it, that was a perfectly reasonable short-term target. Prior to his final season at Reims, Ekitike had not even scored a goal in France’s top tier. He had spent the second half of the previous campaign on loan at Danish club Vejle Boldklub.
He returned to Reims as the fourth-choice forward but soon forced Oscar to reassess. Soon after that, the two strikers whose level he had been encouraged to hit were no longer in his sights. “Within months, he wanted to reach the same level as Mbappe.”
It is a tale that offers a glimpse into the mindset of the Eintracht Frankfurt forward who has long been linked with a move to the Premier League.
“He always was a talented player but some coaches did not like him because of his profile and sometimes because of his character,” concedes Oscar. “They were thinking he was a little bit arrogant. He always wanted to be compared with the best ones.”
Read more about Hugo Ekitike’s rise here.
