Liverpool agree Hugo Ekitike terms after muscling in on Newcastle transfer plans

Hugo Ekitike will become Liverpool’s new centre-forward after the Reds agreed a six-year contract with the French forward, who had been targeted by Newcastle United

Liverpool have agreed terms with Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike and will make the Frenchman the latest new addition to their busy summer.

Ekitike has said yes to a move to Anfield and will sign a six-year deal, with the Reds muscling in on Newcastle’s bid for the 23-year-old after also making an enquiry for Magpies star Alexander Isak.

The signing of Ekitike will take the champions’ spending to north of £250million since they won the Premier League, but although he has an £86.5m release clause in his contract Liverpool hope to agree a deal for less.

The move for Ekitike comes after Newcastle made a bullish attempt at signing the forward, who scored 22 goals last season and has rejected the Magpies in the past.

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Newcastle were at pains to make it known that they planned on partnering Ekitike with current No.9 Isak, with Liverpool effectively calling their bluff by registering an interest in the Swede as well as following up on plans to sign Ekitike.

The Reds indicated they would be willing to do a deal at around £120m for Isak, while at the same time Newcastle saw their £70m bid for Ekitike rejected by Frankfurt.

Emboldened by the knowledge that Ekitike wants to join them, and mindful of not entering into a transfer saga over Isak, Liverpool will now seek to wrap up a deal for Ekitike before they head off on their pre-season tour of Asia next week.

Manchester United have also been strongly linked with a move for Ekitike, who is yet to win a senior cap for France but has scored five goals in five games for their Under-21s.

His arrival will effectively signal the end of Darwin Nunez’s Liverpool career after three seasons, despite the Uruguayan seeing a move to Napoli collapse earlier this week.

Nunez is still being targeted by Italian and Saudi Arabian clubs, with the Reds hopeful of selling for around £70m.

Ekitike’s arrival would be the third new addition that Liverpool have made from the Bundesliga this season, having also snapped up the Bayer Leverkusen pair of Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong.

Left-back Milos Kerkez has also arrived from Bournemouth, while goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili arrived from Valencia in a deal which was initially agreed last summer.

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