‘Really interesting process’ – German insider details how Liverpool ultimately landed Ekitike | OneFootball

All going well, Hugo Ekitike should be a Liverpool player by the end of this week – but the pathway towards the transfer being completed hasn’t always been the smoothest.

From the moment that he turned down Newcastle earlier this month and made it clear that he wanted to join the Reds, it’s eemed inevitable that Anfield would be his eventual destination, with Manchester United leaving it far too late to chance their arm when they tried to hijack the move a few days ago (David Ornstein).

Instead, it’s the Premier League champions who are set to complete a £79m deal for the Frenchman, who’d become our sixth senior addition of the summer and the second-most expensive after club-record arrival Florian Wirtz.

Ekitike transfer timeline: How Liverpool won the race for his signature

In his latest Fact Files column for the Daily Briefing, German football insider Christian Falk has charted the sequence of events which ultimately led to Liverpool agreeing a move for Ekitike.

He explained: ‘It was a really interesting process that preceded Liverpool signing Hugo Ekitike. Liverpool and Arsenal came quickly to the table but weren’t so concrete to begin with.

‘The first talks took place with Chelsea, and the Frenchman was prepared to go to London. However, the Blues ended up signing Joao Pedro instead.

(Photo by Pau Barrena/Getty Images)

‘Newcastle came into the picture, but there were no negotiations because Ekitike didn’t want to sign for Eddie Howe’s men. He was still waiting for another club, and this club was Liverpool.

‘After that, Liverpool put the feelers out for Alexander Isak and ended up making a decision to pursue Hugo Ekitike. At this point, the striker told Eintracht Frankfurt, “I just want to go to Liverpool.” From then on, it was just a question of negotiations.’

Ekitike to Liverpool had seemed unlikely at one point, but we got there!

While it’s seemed like things have moved quickly in the pursuit of the 23-year-old over the past fortnight, Falk’s summary of the process shows that it was anything but straightforward, and that at one point it felt like the striker would end up somewhere other than Anfield.

When Chelsea came in for talks and Ekitike was seemingly ready to join them, it felt as though the Blues would be the club to bring him to the Premier League. Thankfully for us, they instead turned to their familiar market of Brighton to secure Joao Pedro’s signature.

Once the Frenchman snubbed Newcastle, Liverpool spotted their opportunity and duly seized upon it, helped of course by the player’s single-minded desire to sign for Arne Slot’s side.

At an initial £69m (plus a potential £10m in add-ons), he certainly isn’t coming cheap, but the Reds would’ve done exceedingly well to have gotten a young and prolific striker who netted 22 goals for one of the Bundesliga’s best teams last season for anything less.

The transfer isn’t official just yet – we’re still waiting for Ekitike to come through his medical – but once that box is ticked, we should then be able to wait for confirmation from LFC of yet another eye-catching summer signing, one which didn’t seem all that likely not so long ago!