Paul Gorst takes a closer look at Hugo Ekitike's current situation after reports the Liverpool forward is targeting a November return to training
Hugo Ekitike
Hugo Ekitike
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It's unlikely that Hugo Ekitike will ever be accused of not putting in the hard yards to get back on the pitch for Liverpool.
Or, perhaps more specifically, the long yards.
Ekitike has now taken two Trans-Atlantic trips with specialists in tow as he seeks to come back a better player from a devastating setback in April.
It was back in June when Ekitike, just a few weeks removed from the Achilles rupture that ended his season and his World Cup dream, flew out to the West Coast of America to step up his rehabilitation process.
As Liverpool's top scorer for the previous campaign, the vacation was as well earned as anyone else's in the squad and given he was robbed of participating in the World Cup showpiece with France, a Stateside jaunt to California was entirely his prerogative.
But the trip was as much work as it was pleasure as he enlisted his personal physiotherapist Berengar Buschmann to put him through his paces in Los Angeles.
Buschmann was drafted in at the request of Ekitike, due to their working relationship that began in Germany when the attacker was at Eintracht Frankfurt.
And having worked closely with Liverpool from the beginning of the process, Buschmann established a pathway that aimed to get his client back to the pitch as quickly as possible.
The German physio met with the club's medical staff at the AXA Training Centre earlier this year to thrash out a long-term plan for recovery, which began to take shape in the close-season.
Basic ball juggling, strength and conditioning work and weight-bearing exercises were all part of the process in the United States as Ekitike looked to shorten the recovery time and re-establish himself under a new head coach in Andoni Iraola.
Speaking shortly after the injury initially happened, during a Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain in April, Dr Nicolas Baudrier, a Paris-based orthopedist, estimated: "In the best-case scenario for a professional player, surgery means nine months until he (Ekitike) can return to the field."
Reports in France earlier this year specified that Ekitike had earmarked the typically hectic festive period as the time he was looking to return, with a December 26 comeback slated by the influential L'Equipe.
"It's hard, maybe even unfair...but I am grateful this is happening to me here among you," Ekitike posted on social media after the setback alongside an image of him sitting on the Anfield turf before kick-off against PSG.
"I'm not alone. Your strength and your love will be my driving force. See you again soon, Anfield."
Liverpool, in contrast, have always been keen to steer clear of placing a definitive timescale on the recovery process, as is standard for such long-term injuries.
The club certainly avoided speculation about Ekitike himself reportedly circling St Stephen's Day on his personal calendar and that trip to Hull City in the Premier League.
But it's fair to note that his determination to put in the work is said to have impressed people behind the scenes at the AXA Training Centre since the players reconvened at the Kirkby base back in July.
Further reports in France this week have once more taken a positive outlook towards when Reds fans might be able to see Ekitike back in action, with a return to training believed to be targeted for November by the No.22.
Ekitike has recently been back in the United States, spending time in New York and working with a specialist once more.
It is claimed he can now jog after spending much of the last few months on crutches and if there is yet to be an informed timescale estimate from inside Liverpool, confirmation of their Champions League squad last month said plenty.
Ekitike was named in Liverpool's 25-man squad, which saw Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa excluded. The Reds' eight-game group phase will take them up to January 27, when they host French side Lens in their final match, meaning the striker might reasonably be expected to have returned sometime before then to play a part.
Perhaps the most curious aspect of Ekitike's return, however, is not necessarily when but more a case of where. The gifted frontman, when back to 100%, is too good to be left to sit in reserve as deputy to Alexander Isak.
And while it is clear that the pair of big-money strikers will often be rested and rotated for one another when the time calls for it, Iraola's willingness to play his wide players across both flanks opens up plenty of intriguing questions about his eventual deployment of £79m Ekitike.
Cody Gakpo might tell you that he prefers the left side of the front three but the in-form Dutchman has been just as productive on the right flank on Iraola's watch, while Rio Ngumoha and Victor Munoz have also been tried on both wings so far, as £123m signing Bradley Barcola will be in time.
Liverpool worked on Ekitike's heading and hold-up play last season to develop him into a more rounded No. 9, but the powerful and pacey Frenchman is capable of also being decisive in wide areas. This raises the prospect of him adapting to those positions upon his return to the fold. Could he eventually come to be an option on the right side?
Ekitike and Isak were rarely available for selection together last season and they were named in the same starting lineup on just three occasions. The pair have so far been played together with £116m Florian Wirtz for just 115 minutes, a statistic that was hugely lamented behind the scenes at Liverpool last season.
For more than a few, Arne Slot included, a turbulent campaign would have been much different had all three been able to feature together more regularly.
It will be some time yet before that high-profile trio can add to that paltry figure but Ekitike appears to at least now be seeing a sliver of light at the end of what has no doubt been a long, dark tunnel.
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