Liverpool warned they mightn’t yet have a free run at Ekitike despite Newcastle exiting the race | OneFootball

Over the past few hours, Liverpool have emerged as overwhelming favourites to sign Hugo Ekitike this summer.

On Thursday morning, Fabrizio Romano reported that Newcastle have pulled out of the race for the Eintracht Frankfurt striker, who’s indicated his preference to join the Reds. The Premier League champions are understood to have already made an ‘official bid’ for the 23-year-old, although this was rejected by the Bundesliga side.

Florian Plettenberg subsequently corroborated reports of a formal written offer from LFC and reiterated that the Frenchman would like to sign for Arne Slot’s team.

Eintracht hoping for Ekitike bidding war

This afternoon, Romano took to his eponymous YouTube channel to share his latest information on Ekitike, claiming that Liverpool mightn’t yet have a free run at the striker despite the Magpies ending their interest.

He stated: “Newcastle are out of the race to sign Hugo Ekitike, completely out, because Liverpool entered very strong, reached an agreement with the player on a six-year contract, reached an agreement with his agent.

“Also, Liverpool not only went strong to the player but also approached Eintracht – that was at the beginning of the week, now today with an official bid. This is the exclusive story from today because they presented a bid to Eintracht close to €80m [£69.3m], rejected by Eintracht as they want more.

“Why they rejected? Because Eintracht in the morning insist that they feel there could be more clubs joining the race for Ekitike. Maybe Manchester United later in the window. That’s the feeling of people at Eintracht, that maybe United can enter the race.”

(Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Ekitike still likely to join Liverpool this summer

If Eintracht Frankfurt are waiting for the Old Trafford outfit to get involved and prompt a bidding war for Ekitike, they’d be well advised not to hold their breath.

The striker has already made it crystal clear that he wants to join Liverpool, to the extent that any other suitor coming in for him now would surely be wasting everyone’s time.

Even if Man United were to have the audacity to throw their hat into the ring for the 23-year-old, what logical reason would there be for him to suddenly have a change of heart and instead prefer a move to Ruben Amorim’s side?

Why would he go to a club who finished a dismal 15th in the Premier League last season and where other strikers who’ve been prolific in Europe have seen their careers and confidence diminish; especially when his other option is the reigning champions of England, where he’d almost certainly become an immediate starter?

Eintracht might hope to see other suitors coming in for Ekitike so that they can hold out for a higher price, but given how the Florian Wirtz transfer played out, Liverpool will likely escalate to an offer which’d satisfy the Bundesliga side and convince them to sell.

We’re quite confident that Richard Hughes will get a deal for ther Frenchman over the line, thus reinforcing an already imperious forward line at Anfield.