Just in: How much Liverpool are prepared to offer for Hugo Ekitike as talks advance rapidly | OneFootball

Liverpool have now taken firm control of the transfer race for Hugo Ekitike after a series of drastic developments over the past 24 hours.

Fabrizio Romano reported on Thursday morning that Newcastle have dropped out of the running for the Eintracht Frankfurt striker to focus on other targets, thus giving the Reds a free run at signing the Frenchman, for whom an ‘official bid’ has already been tabled.

French journalist Fabrice Hawkins went as far as to claim that an agreement has been reached over a six-year contract for the centre-forward, who only wants to join the Premier League champions.

How much are Liverpool prepared to offer for Ekitike?

The Athletic have subsequently shared details of how much Liverpool are prepared to offer to the Bundesliga side for Ekitike, who indeed has his sights set firmly on playing for Arne Slot’s side.

The Reds are ‘advancing in talks’ with Eintracht Frankfurt over a move for the 23-year-old and are putting together a proposed package in excess of £69.2m. Personal terms are ‘not expected to be an issue’ given that the striker has a clear preference for LFC.

(Photo by Simon Hofmann/Getty Images)

Will that be enough to convince Eintracht Frankfurt to sell Ekitike?

If Liverpool are to submit a proposal of around £70m for Ekitike, would that be enough to get the green light from Deutsche Bank Park?

As per The Athletic, Newcastle had an offer of £65m rejected by Dino Toppmoller’s side before they ended their interest in him, and ESPN FC pundit Jan Aage Fjortoft has indicated that the Frenchman’s asking price is £86.7m.

The Reds’ proposed package will therefore likely be rebuffed by Eintracht Frankfurt, although it took several attempts to get a deal for Florian Wirtz over the line, with FSG returning to the table with incrementally increasing offers before Bayer Leverkusen said yes.

Based on the figures mentioned above, Liverpool may be hopeful of snapping up Ekitike for somewhere in the region of £80m, should the two clubs reach a compromise in negotiations.

It seems apparent that the player would jump at the chance to move to Merseyside, so now it’s over to Richard Hughes to try and broker a deal with the Bundesliga club which’d see the 23-year-old join the Arne Slot revolution at Anfield.