Newcastle tried to sign Hugo Ekitike in the summer and he could line up against them when they play Liverpool on Saturday
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe, and Liverpool strikers Alexander Isak (left) and Hugo Ekitike
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe, and Liverpool strikers Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike
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Whenever Newcastle United make the trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool it is rarely a fixture which lacks narrative.
And the way in which the summer transfer market panned out intensified a rivalry that has bubbled beneath the surface for years in the Premier League.
Who can forget images of Kevin Keegan slumped over the advertising hoardings after Stan Collymore scored a stoppage time winner to seal a 4-3 win for Liverpool that damaged Newcastle's Premier League title bid back in the 1995/96 season.
But the manner in which Alexander Isak engineered his British transfer record move from Newcastle to Liverpool left a bitter taste in the mouth and that emotion spilled over on to the pitch when the two sides met in a highly charged encounter at St James' Park back in August.
Liverpool won 3-2 that night thanks to a stoppage time goal from Rio Ngumoha but it was the performance of summer signing Hugo Ekitike that caught the eye.
To add insult to injury, Ekitike had been close to joining Newcastle but instead of becoming Isak's replacement on Tyneside, he was signed as his alternative on Merseyside.
Newcastle ultimately ended up signing strikers Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa to fill the void left by Isak and Callum Wilson, who also left the club in the summer on a free transfer.
So how does Ekitike compare to Newcastle's strikers, why did the Magpies want to sign him so much and how has he fared so far at Anfield?
Chronicle Live has taken a deep dive into all of these issues ahead of Newcastle's clash with Liverpool in the Premier League this evening.
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Newcastle move was close before Liverpool pounced
Ekitike admitted on Wednesday that he was close to joining Newcastle before eventually making the £79million move to Liverpool from Eintracht Franfkurt.
"Obviously we were close," Ekitike said when asked if he was close to making the move to St James' Park.
"But I made my choice already, I knew where I wanted to come. That’s all I can give to you."
Newcastle had been close to finalising a move for the 23-year-old but Liverpool had long been in talks with Ekitike and hijacked the deal as the Magpies closed in.
"Liverpool needed to bolster their forward line in the summer after it became clear Darwin Nunez wasn't part of the plans and the Reds opened talks with Ekitike's camp around 12 months ago as speculation over Nunez and a move to Saudi Arabia intensified," Paul Gorst, Liverpool reporter for the Liverpool Echo, told Chronicle Live.
"Liverpool actually chose to keep the Uruguayan for the remainder of the season but kept tabs on Ekitike and in close contact with his agency. The sad death of Diogo Jota in early July also, from a purely footballing perspective, left the club in need of another forward, even if it sounds somewhat perverse discussing the tragedy in those terms."
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 23: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Hugo Ekitike poses for photos after he signs for Liverpool Football Club on July 23, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Hugo Ekitike poses for photos after he signs for Liverpool Football Club on July 23, 2025 in London, England(Image: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Why Howe tried to sign him twice amid PSG mistake
The summer wasn't the first time Eddie Howe had tried to sign Ekitike, with Newcastle keen to sign him in the summer of 2022 after he impressed for French side Reims, scoring 11 goals as a teenager in the 2021/22 campaign.
But he opted to move to French giants, PSG, and inevitably struggled for game-time when competing against the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
Ekitike ended up joining German side Eintracht Frankfurt within 18 months of making the move to Paris and it was with the German club he rebuilt his career.
"His career has shown it was important for him to play for an 'intermediary' club like Frankfurt before signing in a big European club," L'Equipe reporter Damien Degorre told Chronicle Live.
"Ekitike chose to sign for Paris just after Reims and I believe he wasn’t ready for it. PSG, it’s another world. Different pressure. Criticism are more consistent. It’s like a jungle and Hugo was too young for that.
"Frankfurt was like a rebirth for him. And I believe if he chose to sign for Newcastle instead of PSG, he would have saved time."
Ekitike scored 22 goals in all competitions for Eintracht Frankfurt and that brought him back on Howe and Newcastle's radar. As Isak angled for a move, Ekitike seemed like the ideal replacement.
"[He is] A very, very good player," Howe told Chronicle Live in Friday's press conference.
"I think it is well known I have liked him for a number of years. I tried to sign him twice. He has got a bit of everything. He has great movement, can score with both feet, he's good in the air and dribbles with the ball really well.
"He is someone we are going to have to do really, really well against and I thought we did relatively well against him in the first game but, of course, he scored.
"He is a big talent."
Newcastle United Head Coach Eddie Howe speaking to the media
Newcastle United Head Coach Eddie Howe speaking to the media(Image: 2026 Newcastle United)
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Just as Newcastle and Howe were so keen to sign him, his characteristics, as well as his rejuvenation at Frankfurt, placed him firmly on Liverpool's radar, too, and he has hit the ground running at Anfield.
"Ekitike is strong, powerful and can carry the ball, which is something Liverpool lack at times in the final third," Gorst continued.
"He is cool and calm in front of goal and can really motor once he gets going. He is not too dissimilar to Isak in that regard even if we're yet to see that from the former Newcastle man in a Liverpool shirt.
"13 goals for the campaign so far puts Ekitike out as the Reds' top scorer and his form this term has taken him from the U21s to the senior setup at France."
'World class' belief
Liverpool have struggled this season. They head into the weekend 14 points adrift of league leaders, Arsenal, and in sixth place, having coasted to the Premier League title last term.
Newcastle legend Alan Shearer suggested Arne Slot's side have put up one of the worst Premier League title defences in the competition's history but one of the few outliers to their slump has been the form of Ekitike.
He has 13 goals in all competitions already this season, with eight of them coming in the Premier League. Given his age and profile, the Reds feel they have a 'world class' talent on their hands.
"In what has been a difficult season for a million and one reasons, Ekitike has been a real positive," Gorst added.
"He will surely finish his first season at Anfield as the top scorer and at the age of 23, Liverpool feel they have a potential world-class talent on their hands.
"He needs to get fitter and be able to put in full, 90-minute displays. Getting up to the intensity demanded in England has been a challenge but he is clearly a top-class player with massive potential."
Hugo Ekitike of Liverpool
Hugo Ekitike almost joined Newcastle(Image: Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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How he compares to Woltemade and Wissa
While Ekitike has fitted in seamlessly to Liverpool's style of play, there have been teething issues with Woltemade and Wissa at Newcastle.
Woltemade, who joined Newcastle for a club record £69million fee, hit the ground running and has nine goals in all competitions, which is a record not to be sniffed at in his first season in English football. The goals have dried up, though, in the last five weeks and there is a criticism he plays too deep to be an effective number nine.
Wissa signed for £55million on deadline day and then picked up a knee injury just days later that ruled him out for three months. He has three goals to his name since returning to action in December but is still getting to grips with what is required of him at Newcastle.
With minimal training time available to them with Newcastle's rigorous schedule across four competitions, coupled with the fact both players signed so late in the transfer window, Howe feels it is only natural they will take longer to settle.
Newcastle United's Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa
Newcastle United's Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa(Image: Richard Lee/Shutterstock)
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"The guys who have come in have done a very good job," Howe said.
"But we’re still finding ways to get the best out of [them]. There’s been video analysis, talking to them, which is great, but it’s not the same as getting work on the training pitch."
But what do the raw numbers say?
Woltemade's shot conversion rate in the Premier League stands at 24.14% which is better than Erling Haaland. It is also better than Ekitike's whose stands at 17.78%.
The German international's xG per shot stands at 0.21 as well which is better than Ekitike again (0.14) and comparable to Haaland (0.22), which shows the quality of the shots Woltemade has and the chances he finds himself on the end of are high.
The issue is he doesn't take anywhere near enough of them. He has only had 29 shots in the Premier League this season. Haaland has had 85 by comparison and Ekitike, who has played the same number of games as Woltemade in the league, has 45.
That suggests, as many would suspect, he doesn't get in enough goalscoring positions. Strikingly, five Newcastle players average more shots per than their centre-forward.
Wissa's data is obviously more sparse given his lack of game-time but he averages 2.45 shots per game which is higher than Woltemade but having scored only once his conversion rate only stands at 11.11%.
It hints there is potential for growth in the numbers for both Woltemade and Wissa but it also suggests Ekitike is more effective and getting in more goalscoring positions for the Reds than the Magpies are managing for their forwards.
As those teething issues continue, it is hard not to look enviously at Ekitike's strong start at Liverpool. Howe and Newcastle will hope he doesn't hurt them when the two sides do battle on Saturday night.
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