This has been a week in which ruminations behind the scenes among recruitment teams at the Reds and beyond were finally backed up by actions as the intrigue over two of Europe’s most in-demand strikers rocketed up the agenda.
Sparked by Newcastle United’s failed attempt to sign Hugo Ekitike, Liverpool are now the strong favourites and preferred choice of the 23-year-old Frenchman with discussions ongoing over thrashing out a deal with Eintracht Frankfurt worth in excess of £70million.
For all the talk of it being a powerplay or smokescreen from the Reds to prompt Alexander Isak to agitate for a move away from Newcastle, that Liverpool have progressed so far down the road with the Ekitike deal suggests that appears unlikely. Ekitike is the man they want – at least most immediately.
Certainly, while yet to make the breakthrough into the French senior national team – he scored a hat-trick for the under-21s against England in a friendly in March – Ekitike’s stock has risen considerably since moving to Frankfurt 18 months ago after a frustrating spell at Paris Saint-Germain, who he joined after making waves at Reims.
The forward was key to Frankfurt’s run to the Europa League quarter-finals, scoring in the elimination to eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur, and helped them to only a second Champions League qualification.
But the finished article he is not. Consider these words from Micah Richards, speaking this week on The Rest Is Football podcast.
“In terms of Ekitike, I’ve spoken to Thierry (Henry) about him a lot,” said Richards. “He says he’s not a frustrating player, but one minute he looks amazing and the next minute he does not do the basics very well.
“He said if he gets it right and improves then his ceiling could be very, very high.”
Indeed, there has been concern among some Liverpool supporters that, entering the closing stages of last season, only one player from Europe’s top five leagues had underperformed to their xG – expected goals metric – more than Ekitike.
That, though, was later put into the context he still finished in the top five Bundesliga goalscorers for the season, the top eight for assists, and the player with the most attempted shots. Ekitike and club record Liverpool signing Florian Wirtz were among those to have struck the woodwork the most times.
And Ekitike is outperforming Isak at the same age, when the latter had just finished his time at Real Sociedad and was on his way to Newcastle.
So continues the trend of Liverpool looking to the Bundesliga following the capture of Bayer Leverkusen duo Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong already this summer. And the last three signings made by Jurgen Klopp were from Germany – Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch.
But should Ekitike make the move to Liverpool, he will be hoping to buck a number of trends. Not least the relative lack of success by French players who have moved to Anfield.
A total of 18 players from the country have featured for the Reds’ first team, more than half of which were brought in during the reign of former France national team boss Gerard Houllier.
Only two, though, reached a century of appearances – Djimi Traore, who starred under Houllier and Rafa Benitez, and current centre-back Ibrahima Konate.
Djibril Cisse has been the most successful French forward, scoring 24 goals in 79 games and winning the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FA Cup, scoring in each final. Otherwise, the pickings are somewhat slim, save an honourable but all-too-brief loan spell for Nicolas Anelka in 2002.
At least the big-money arrival of Wirtz earlier in the summer will take the heat off Ekitike should his big-money arrival be confirmed. The experiences of Darwin Nunez and earlier Andy Carroll are evidence of how a record tag can affect the perception of a Liverpool forward.
But having romped to the Premier League title ostensibly without a regular recognised central striker, Liverpool are now very much posed to recruit from a position of strength. Ekitike, it seems, is being deemed the answer to the biggest issue for the Reds last season.