You may be reading this thinking ‘not another Hugo Ekitike update’, but this sudden saga involving the Frenchman, Frankfurt, Alexander Isak and Liverpool feels massive.
Massive in terms of our striker department (in and out), the context of our summer window, and those enormous ambitions Saudi PIF and Yasir Al-Rumayyan have promised us regarding our five-year plan and beyond.
In the last 24 hours, we’ve seen David Ornstein report on Liverpool approaches for Isak and Ekitike, all while we remain adamant the Swede is not for sale and push to sign the Frankfurt star to play alongside him.
But what now? Well there has been a strong update from North East reporter Luke Edwards, who has released a new exclusive for The Telegraph on Wednesday afternoon.
He reports that Newcastle’s stance is clear: Isak is not for sale and Liverpool’s attempt to poach him has only intensified our pursuit of Ekitike.
Edwards writes that PIF are ‘unimpressed’ by Liverpool’s attempts to ‘bully’ Newcastle into the sale of Isak and not only plan to keep him, but are pushing ahead to buy Ekitike in a ‘power play’ of our own.
They face strong competition for the 23-year-old, with Liverpool also keen, but The Telegraph report that we’ve held positive talks with Ekitike’s camp over the past 24 hours after our first offer worth £65m (£4.5m less than other reports suggest) was rejected.
Newcastle feel Liverpool have tried to unsettle Isak by making a public approach, despite knowing our ‘not for sale’ stance. However, Toon chiefs are ‘unflustered’ by the tactics at play and will return with an improved bid for Ekitike, hoping this will be enough to land a long-term target Eddie Howe has wanted to sign since his Reims day in 2022.