It’s taken a little over a week for Liverpool to go from opening talks with Hugo Ekitike to completing his signing from Eintracht Frankfurt, but Newcastle, Chelsea and Al Hilal have all been involved in a transfer story akin to an iceberg, with far more intrigue below the surface.
The Reds confirmed the Frenchman’s signing for £69m plus £10m in add-ons on Wednesday, which means they’re now the biggest summer spenders of the summer and have the top two most-expensive signings.
It was Newcastle who forced Liverpool into moving for Ekitike by making an €80m [£69m] offer for him on July 15, which arrived after Al Hilal ‘issued a blank cheque’ for the 23-year-old, according to Bild.
The issue in both cases was the failure to first reach an agreement with Ekitike, which – somewhat strangely – was Eintracht Frankfurt’s preference for his transfer.
Ekitike didn’t want to join Al Hilal or Newcastle and the report claims the Bundesliga side were actually ‘irritated’ that the Magpies came to them before agreeing personal terms with the striker. Weird.
Anyway, Eintracht rejected the Newcastle bid on the evening of July 15 after it arrived in the morning, and it was at that point that Liverpool ‘reported back’ following initial contact in February, when Arsenal also ‘registered interest’.
It’s claimed Liverpool had ‘intensified interest’ in Newcastle star Alexander Isak ‘in the days before’ but the Reds ‘made it clear they would get into the poker for Ekitike if they could not get Isak immediately’.
On July 16 Liverpool ‘entered concrete negotiations’ with Ekitike and his representatives while also ‘contacting Newcastle for the first time about Isak’.
It was not one or the other at that stage – ‘suddenly they want both’, according to Bild.
Newcastle ‘dropped out of the poker’ for Ekitike the next day as the striker informed Eintracht that ‘he only wants to go to Liverpool’, while the Magpies also made it ‘clear to Liverpool that Isak is unsaleable’.
Liverpool’s opening bid of €80m [£69m] – the same as Newcastle’s – was rejected by the German side on July 18, but there were ‘very professional negotiations’ between sporting directors Marjus Krosche and Richard Hughes.
MORE ON LIVERPOOL FROM F365…
👉 Liverpool pick Real Madrid superstar as replacement for Luis Diaz in ‘very expensive’ move
👉 Liverpool eye ‘more affordable plan B’ after Tottenham enter race to sign Guehi from Palace
👉 Konate ‘priority’ revealed as Liverpool and Real Madrid fight over the Frenchman’s future
By this point personal terms between Ekitike and Liverpool had been fully agreed, with the striker agreeing to a six-year contract on €15m per year, five times what he was on at Eintracht.
And by the evening of July 19 – after Ekitike stayed on the bench to watch a 3-2 victory over FSV Frankfurt – the clubs had also agreed terms.
But he could so easily have moved to Chelsea instead.
It’s claimed the Blues were ‘the first club to get serious’ over his potential transfer, holding ‘concrete talks with the player side’ on May 21, four days before the end of the Premier League season.
And the report even goes as far as to suggest the ‘back problems’ cited as the reason for Ekitike pulling out of the France Under-21 European Championships squad weren’t all that serious amid the interest from Chelsea.
‘Only two days later he posted a video on Instagram showing him training with a personal coach’, the report claims, adding that Chelsea signing Joao Pedro from Brighton was ‘much to Ekitike’s disappointment’.
