With Premier League action on ice for the time being, Liverpool will be hoping to return to domestic football with a bang after losing three games, across all competitions, on the trot – and many of the Anfield faithful are making the same point regarding their summer addition, Hugo Ekitike, who has played in a two-man striker partnership with Kylian Mbappe against Azerbaijan.
Also admired by Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United in the summer, the reigning champions of the Premier League got their hands on the exciting Frenchman in a deal worth £79 million. Ekitike’s spell on Merseyside got off to a flyer with him scoring on his debut – in the Community Shield against Crystal Palace – but he’s yet to play a full 90 minutes under Slot.
Born and raised in Reims, the former Eintracht Frankfurt goal-getter has caught the attention of France boss Didier Deschamps with his goalscoring prowess – and has picked up two international caps, against Ukraine and Iceland. His first start for his country came against Azerbaijan, but what is the point that many Liverpool fans are making after his side won 3–0 in Paris?
Liverpool Fans Implore Slot to Make Ekitike Decision After Full France Debut
Ekitike wasn’t the only big name that Slot and his entourage welcomed as a means of retaining their status as the best team in England; Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Alexander Isak all joined the club over the summer months. And it’s the latter who has complicated matters for Ekitike.
Thanks to the lofty amount of money Liverpool splashed on Isak in the summer of 2025, keeping the Swedish sharpshooter – widely regarded as one of the best strikers in world football – is inconceivable when he’s fit and raring to lead the line. That said, the 26-year-old is yet to reach full fitness following his intra-Premier League transfer from Newcastle.
He’s still, understandably, Slot’s go-to choice at the top of the three – but what does that mean for Ekitike? The youngster has already claimed that he relishes the competition for the striker berth. “It’s fun. When you play for the best teams, you expect to be competing with the best players,” he said before adding:
“[Alexander] Isak is a player I’ve watched too, so seeing him arrive is a pleasure. It’s going to be tough competition, but I’m going to focus on performing well so that it’s a problem for the manager.”
Another question is whether Slot can utilise them together. Both players, by virtue of their languid style, have shown flashes of being capable of playing off the left flank over the years; but using them in a two-man constellation up top would be optimal for a club hoping to fight on all fronts this season.
Many Liverpool supporters, after watching Ekitike’s full international debut where he linked up effortlessly with none other Kylian Mbappe, are making a similar point regarding a ‘mistake’ Slot has made in the infancy of the 2025/26 season – and that’s the fact that an Isak-Ekitike front two has not been experimented with as yet. “Deschamps is playing Ekitike and Mbappe, but somehow Arne cannot play Isak and Ekitike,” one fan said as another added:
“No one tell me Ekitike x Isak can’t work. There’s so many ways they can play together. If Deschamps, the most pragmatic manager ever, can play Mbappe x Hugo, we can play 2 up top too. Slot MUST find a way to figure it out, because having one of the bench is handicapping us.”
“When Isak and Ekitike start playing matches together in a row and Isak regains 100% of his physical abilities… the world of football isn’t ready for such a connection,” a third supporter wrote on X (formerly Twitter). A final user concluded: “Hugo Ekitike is so good on the ball. Slot has to play him with Isak.”
Ekitike has made the transition from the Bundesliga to the Premier League look relatively seamless – and if he can strike a rhythmic partnership with Isak, there would be very little that opposition defences could do to prevent goals being scored. Upon their return to action, Anfield will play host to a highly-anticipated encounter against Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United.