Hugo Ekitike is yet to undergo surgery to repair his ruptured Achilles but Arne Slot is confident the Liverpool striker will eventually return “even stronger.”
Ekitike is set for surgery to correct the damage sustained when attempting a sprint during Tuesday’s Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
If successful, the Frenchman will still face a recovery time of between nine and 12 months, while there are examples of players with his injury not returning to full fitness for years.
Slot was therefore right to describe it as a “devastating” injury, but speaking in his pre-Everton press conference, the head coach took an optimistic view.
“He hasn’t been operated on yet,” Slot confirmed.
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“Devastating for him. Coming to a new club, having so much impact straight away, playing against your former club in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with so much to come for him in the summer.
“Your first thoughts are with him, being out for such a long time, missing out on so many special moments.
“But he’s not the first or the last player who has experienced something like this at the start of his career.
“There are so many examples of players that came back even stronger and that’s the challenge he has now.
“I’m 100 percent sure he will be one of those that in 10, 15 years’ time will say maybe his injury even helped him to become stronger, to become even more ready to perform at an even higher level than he did before.”
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, April 14, 2026: Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike lies on the floor Injured holding his ankle during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Ekitike’s injury is likely to rule him out for the rest of the year and may only see him return at this stage next season.
That is a huge blow to the 23-year-old, who had scored 17 goals and assisted six in 45 games since his £79 million move from Eintracht Frankfurt.
His final season at Frankfurt was his first as a regular starter, clocking 3,644 minutes on the pitch having never previously clocked over 1,500 in a single campaign.
The toll of that workload showed in Ekitike’s fitness throughout his debut season at Liverpool and that was only magnified by the lack of alternatives up front.
Now Slot will focus on the fit-again Alexander Isak as his leading No. 9 with Cody Gakpo and Federico Chiesa backup options.
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