Manchester United are ramping up a move for a €100m-rated striker who is open to joining the Red Devils this summer, according to reports.
Man Utd’s initial plan for their striker position was to sign Liam Delap. However, failure to qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League cost United dearly. Delap placed great emphasis on UCL football and ultimately chose Chelsea.
That prompted Man Utd to re-focus their gaze on Viktor Gyokeres amid a possible reunion with Ruben Amorim.
Yet despite being willing to join United despite their lack of Champions League football, the Sporting striker favours signing for Arsenal instead.
The Gunners are weighing up whether to sign Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko. If Arsenal choose the latter, United could yet end up with Gyokeres leading their line next season, though it’s looking unlikely at this stage.
Instead, the Red Devils are now zeroing in on Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike who at €100m / £85m, could become Man Utd’s third most expensive signing of all time. Only Paul Pogba at £89.3m and Antony at £86m (add-ons included) would have cost more.
Taking to X, Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg revealed United have established contact with not only the French striker’s camp, but also Frankfurt too. Furthermore, United’s interest was termed ‘concrete’.
Plettenberg wrote: “Manchester United also made contact with the management of Hugo Ekitike over the weekend and have expressed concrete interest!
“Man United are now in contact with Eintracht Frankfurt and Ekitike. No decision has been made yet. Liverpool and Chelsea are still in the race.”
As mentioned, Liverpool and Chelsea are both circling over the 22-year-old too. Both those clubs can offer Champions League football, though that isn’t a killer blow for Man Utd on this occasion.
Providing their insight on the situation, German outlet BILD claimed Ekitike is willing to join Man Utd.
Fabrizio Romano on Hugo Ekitike latest
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano took to YouTube on Saturday to clarify the situations of the three clubs eyeing Ekitike.
“Manchester United had contacts with the agents of Hugo Ekitike,” began Romano. “My understanding is the following: call from Chelsea.
“Chelsea called Frankfurt last week, not this week. This week, zero contacts. Last week contacts between the agents and Chelsea asking Frankfurt how much they wanted for Ekitike.
“The answer was €100m and that is something that Chelsea, as of today, are not willing to pay.
“So Chelsea remain interested in Ekitike, but only if the price changes during the window.
“Liverpool are interested in Ekitike, are a solution for the player in case they find a solution for Darwin Nunez.
“My understanding is for Darwin Nunez to leave, for Nunez to go with Napoli interested, clubs from Spain, clubs from Saudi Arabia.
“So Darwin Nunez is going and so we have to consider Liverpool for Ekitike. But also in this case it will depend on the price because Liverpool already spent important money in the market.
“And then Manchester United called in the last two to three days, to be informed on the situation and speak with the agents. They are looking for a striker and so Man Utd made a call.
Summarising the situation, Romano added: “Chelsea called but the price is considered too high. Man Utd now informed. Don’t forget Liverpool.”
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Hugo Ekitike’s full statistics (2024/25)
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Hugo Ekitike 2024/25 season stats