Liverpool will reportedly have to pay £80m if they want to have a chance of signing a player who is a combination of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar this summer.
The Reds are looking forward to a busy summer transfer window, having been relatively frugal in recent years, certainly compared to some of their big-spending Premier League rivals.
A new striker has to be at the top of Arne Slot’s wishlist, with Eintracht Frankfurt star Hugo Ekitike mentioned as an exciting option for Liverpool
.Now, a new update from Football Insider claims that the Reds “have been told they will have to pay” as much as £80m to sign the Frenchman at the end of the season
That price tag is described in the report as a potential “stumbling block”, even though Slot sees him as a top target to lead the line for his side.
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Is £80m too much for Ekitike?
Ekitike is a player with so much long-term potential, so Liverpool signing him this summer would feel significant, with former Netherlands international Wesley Sneijder even comparing him to two of the greatest attacking players of the past decade:
“I might say something really crazy, but I’ll say it anyway: I think he’s a mix between Neymar and [Kylian] Mbappé. I sincerely think so. He has the grace of Neymar, but also the movements of Mbappe. To suddenly accelerate, that’s something that Mbappé also has. And he’s only 22 years old. There’s really a lot of potential in this boy.”
Ekitike will surely feel that a new challenge is right for him once this season ends, following Frankfurt’s Europa League exit at the hands of Tottenham on Thursday night
The 22-year-old is likely to have his pick of many top clubs, including Liverpool, who have to weigh up whether he is worth spending more than the £75m they paid for Virgil van Dijk midway through the 2017/18 season.
Ekitike is clearly a massive talent who should only improve, and there is a dearth of genuine top-quality strikers out there currently, so the Reds should still be considering spending big on him and taking the risk.