Forget Hugo Ekitike - Liverpool's dream £59m next striker should be obvious amid rival Man United interest

As Liverpool continue to set the transfer market on fire this summer after signing Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong in the early window for over £200 million with Joao Pedro potentially set to follow and Arne Slot targeting a superstar centre-forward as Hugo Ekitike has been heavily linked to Anfield for €100m (£85m).

Eintracht Frankfurt have been a striker factory in recent years, making a staggering profit of €273m (£230m) from flipping strikers to Europe’s elite and West Ham that will rise even further this season when Ekitike inevitably departs - the Frenchman arrived at Deutsche Bank Park for €16.5m (£14m).

However, their alumni don’t have the same eye-watering success away from Frankfurt. Luka Jovic became one of Real Madrid’s biggest flops ever and has played for three clubs since leaving while Sebastian Haller lasted less than two years at West Ham and has since moved four times.

Andre Silva is still officially contracted to RB Leipzig but has only played 306 minutes there in the last two seasons amid a couple of loan moves and PSG sent €95m (£77m) Randal Kolo Muani to Champions League rivals Juventus for the second half of last season.

The book is yet to be written on Omar Marmoush’s Manchester City career but if he succeeds he’ll be the exception rather than the rule, while there are concerns over Ekitike’s stylistic fit too and another big-name striker on the market would be a much better acquisition for Liverpool.

Why Hugo Ekitike doesn’t fit new-look Liverpool

Ekitike scored 22 goals for Frankfurt this season in all competitions including four in the Europa League, and made 12 assists. So far, so positive. But those numbers belie two major flaws in Ekitike’s game, the first being his aversion to leading the line and his tendency to drop deeper to receive and then attempt to dribble it up the pitch using his impressive ability to beat a defender.

Ekitike is a genuine menace with the ball at his feet, ranking in the top 4% of forwards in Europe’s top five league in successful take-ons, he compares similarly favourably in progressive carries and creates more goals from beating a defender than 93% of similar players. His profile is actually very similar to that of Darwin Nunez, who put up almost identical dribbling numbers in his final Primera Liga season before moving to Anfield.

But Liverpool have just spent a nine-figure Premier League record transfer fee on Wirtz, who instantly becomes the star the Reds’ attack will revolve around and the German superstar thrives on leaving his assigned position to find space in the final third.

To maximise his effectiveness at Wirtz needs a striker who can stretch the defence and genuinely lead the line, who can be open as a passing option inside the penalty area then turn and fire dead-eye shots past the opposition goalkeeper but that just isn’t Ekitike’s game.

And while someone like Harry Kane balances his preference to drop deep with clinical finishing, Ekitike still has plenty of room for improvement in that area too. His goals minus expected goals (measuring how effective a striker is at converting chances) is a stodgy -0.15, exactly the same as Nunez this year and a enough to put him well inside the bottom 10% of forwards in Europe’s elite leagues. In practice, that’s the equivalent of an average striker missing a tap-in every six or seven games, or missing a penalty every five games throughout the season.

Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool had a brilliant track record of success with strikers like Roberto Firmino or Diogo Jota who balanced goal-scoring with creating chances for prolific wingers like Mohammed Salah or Sadio Mane. But with the latter long gone and the Egyptian now well into his 30s, Slot was always going to need a rethink and Wirtz’s arrival will accelerate that as the 22-year-old could even be deployed as a false nine.

Ekitike simply doesn’t fit into those plans and Liverpool run the risk of spending £85m again on another striker who won’t translate well to Anfield or the Premier League.

Victor Osimhen ticks all boxes for Liverpool

If Liverpool should be hunting a clinical striker who stretches the defence, Osimhen fits the bill perfectly. He’s even cheaper than Ekitike in terms of a transfer fee, as Napoli had accepted a €70m (£59m) bid from Al-Hilal before the deal collapsed when the club discussed personal terms with Osimhen.

The Nigerian rarely drops into midfield to receive the ball and instead prefers rampaging off a defender’s shoulder or blasting home from close range after receiving the ball in the penalty area. He made 71% of his touches this season in the final third compared to just over 50% for Ekitike, and his average shot distance is a point-blank 10 yards, in the 99th percentile for strikers per FBref.

Obviously the 26-year-old’s goal-scoring record speaks for itself - 37 in 41 games for Galatasaray, 76 in 133 for Napoli, 18 in 38 for Lille, 20 in 36 for Charleroi and 26 in 41 for Nigeria giving him an overall career record of 0.61 goals per game or around two in three, impressive stuff.

And there’s a second incentive for Liverpool to chase Osimhen - score yet another blow on Manchester United. The Red Devils’ need for a competent frontman is much more dire than Liverpool’s and they were chasing Osimhen though their interest coolled upon missing out on the Champions League amid the Nigerian’s bumper wage demands of £400,000.

But with the dominoes beginning to fall away from Ruben Amorim with Benjamin Sesko bound for Arsenal, Alexander Isak staying at Newcastle and Viktor Gyokeres still not convinced by the prospect of moving to Manchester, the Red Devils may need to re-enter the race for Osimhen.

The player seems to want Saudi wages in a European big five league which may be a difficult balance to strike but if Liverpool can steal Osimhen away from their arch rivals it could force Manchester United to look even further down their shopping list at Jonathan David or Ekitike himself - a partnership about as likely to work as an OceanGate-Boeing engineering collaboration.

But Liverpool wouldn’t just be doing this out of spite. Their finances are very healthy following the fifth-lowest net spend in the Premier League last season and Osimhen would be the perfect striker to compliment Wirtz and turn the Reds into undisputed Champions League favourites next in 2025/26.