Liverpool expect to sell striker Darwin Nuñez this summer, and the club are currently lining up their replacement options. Newcastle star Alexander Isak remains the dream target for Arne Slot’s title winning Reds, but getting him from his current club will be difficult.
Now, multiple reports have Liverpool identifying Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike as the top alternative. For Liverpool, if their efforts to engage Newcastle over Isak are rebuffed in the coming days, they would then pivot quickly
and sign the 23-year-old French striker.
Ekitike has recently been heavily linked with Newcastle, with that club believed to have already had a £70M bid for the player rejected and club mouthpieces insisting the plan at the club is to try to have both Ekitike and Isak through at least the 2025-26 season.
Long term it’s hard to see both at Newcastle, with Eddie Howe’s squad built around a 4-3-3 system, but it’s not impossible to imagine them seeing the upcoming season as a year to bed in Ekitike before selling Isak next summer with two years left on his contract.
For Liverpool, determined to end the summer with one of their top two targets, that would be an unacceptable outcome, so it appears they are making their interest in Ekitike public in the hopes it stops Frankfurt and the player accepting a too hasty Newcastle move.
While Liverpool have a history of resisting the urge to buy players simply to plug gaps, not every signing is of a player who was their top target at the position, with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané the most famous examples of Plan B panning out over the past decade.
More from liverpooloffside.sbnation.com:
- Newcastle United Reportedly Bid for Liverpool Striker
- Barcelona Reportedly Preparing £132M Coutinho Bid
- Catalan Press Claim Philippe Coutinho has Chosen Barcelona Shirt Number
- Rumour Mongering: Reds In For Roma Keeper Alisson
- Barcelona Claim They’ve Shown Liverpool “Respect” in Coutinho Chase
- Adam Lallana Is Ready To Compete
- Emre Can Expected to Remain at Liverpool Until Summer
