Arne Slot and Liverpool’s recruitment team are united in the club’s pursuit of a €100m / £84m-rated striker after the Reds were forced to admit defeat on their No 1 target.
Despite a lack of updates over the past 48 hours, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has insisted Liverpool remain on course to sign Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz.
The biggest of that trio of deals obviously revolves around Wirtz who is valued at a gigantic €150m / £126m by Bayer Leverkusen.
Liverpool have already tabled their first official bid, understood to be worth ‘in excess’ of €100m and including add-ons.
The Reds are aiming to strike a deal that is heavily add-ons based in order to greatly lower the cost of the transfer. Per The Guardian, Liverpool will sweeten the deal for Leverkusen by ensuring the add-ons included are easily ‘achievable’.
The purpose of offsetting part of the payments for Wirtz to future years is to ensure Liverpool can complete a monumental squad revamp in one go this summer.
Aside from signing new starters at right-back (Frimpong), left-back (Kerkez) and No 10 (Wirtz), a new striker is also wanted.
Darwin Nunez will be sold, either to Saudi Arabia or a leading European side like Atletico Madrid. That will leave Diogo Jota competing for starts with whichever frontman Liverpool sign and if the Reds had their way, it would be Alexander Isak.
However, The Athletic’s David Ornstein has confirmed Isak is in line to remain with Newcastle after the club secured Champions League football.
With Isak off the table, journalist Sacha Tavolieri stated Liverpool have fixed their gaze on Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike.
“As David Ornstein told, Alexander Isak’s now set to stay in Newcastle after they quality for Champions League,” wrote Tavolieri on X.
“Liverpool now focus on… Hugo Ekitike as target for the number 9 position in case of Darwin Nunez leaving for Saudi Arabia or Spain.”
And per the latest out of Germany via Florian Plettenberg, Liverpool are ramping up their pursuit of the 22-year-old Frenchman.
Taking to X, the Sky Germany reporter wrote: “The next big target from the Bundesliga: Understand FC Liverpool are now seriously in the race for Hugo Ekitike!
“Talks have taken place. Slot/Edwards keen on him. The biggest rival at the moment: Chelsea.
“Eintracht Frankfurt have not yet received an offer. Markus Krosche still demands €100 million.”
Hugo Ekitike to Liverpool latest
Ekitike notched 22 goals and 12 assists in a breakthrough campaign with Frankfurt. His output helped the club secure an impressive third-placed finish in the Bundesliga and Champions League football.
Nevertheless, his time in Frankfurt is set to be a brief one, with Romano previously insisting Ekitike will be on the move in the coming months.
“Hugo Ekitike will leave Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer, plan clear as several top clubs have already made contact,”reported Romano a fortnight ago.
“Premier League top sides approached Eintracht and player’s camp; Ekitike wants to focus on reaching UCL with Eintracht and then decide his future right after.”
Manchester United have been linked with beating Liverpool to the punch. CaughtOffside suggested a ‘formal bid’ worth around €60m / £50m is in the works.
But with no UCL football on offer and Frankfurt valuing Ekitike at a much loftier sum, a move to Old Trafford does not appear likely.
Arsenal are another club who’ve been mentioned alongside the Frenchman, though their striker search has narrowed down to two and Ekitike has not made the final cut.
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