Hugo Ekitike has revealed that he was ‘close’ to joining Newcastle last summer.
Liverpool successfully snared their Premier League counterparts by landing the future France international with an initial £69 million package at the end of July.
Ekitike has become an invaluable asset for Arne Slot’s side after racking up his 13th goal of the campaign in Wednesday’s Champions League rout over Qarabag.
The former Eintracht Frankfurt forward could face a hostile reception when he faces the Magpies when they travel to Anfield for Saturday’s latest top flight encounter.
But Ekitike insists he is unfazed by any potential backlash over the move to Merseyside, where he was later joined by St James’ Park exile Alexander Isak.
He said: “Obviously we were close but I made my choice.
“I knew where I wanted to come so that’s all I can give to you .
“I play for Liverpool, I have my fans here, we played there already [at Newcastle] and won so hopefully we will have a great week of working.
“I don’t care about this (their fans’ reaction), I just want to play and help the team. Simple.”
Ekitike is currently Liverpool’s leading scorer both in the Premier League and all competitions to keep the reigning champions in contention for a top four finish.
Asked for an assessment on his season so far, the 23-year-old replied: “I would say good. Obviously I could do better, I could do worse.
“I’m pretty happy. The most important thing was to set up outside of the pitch with my team-mates, that’s a big thing.
“Everything I do outside with my team-mates, training, I think I’ve settled in well and that helps me to perform.
“So I would say I’m happy but I’m hungry for more and I expect more from myself so I have to keep working.
“I want to make my team win, that’s the most important. Hopefully I will score a good amount of goals but I don’t really even think about this.
“I want to play good and help the team because I know sometimes I know I’m not going to score but I can give assists or make runs and someone else will score.
“Obviously I’m a striker so I need to score goals but I need to do a lot of stuff to help the team.”