Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike: The Striker Built for Slot’s System

Ekitike averaged 0.67 non-penalty xG, 4.1 shots and 7.2 box touches per 90 last season

There is always noise when Liverpool make a big-money signing. There are debates over names, over value, over what could have been. This summer was no different. Many wanted Alexander Isak. I was one of them. But the club, as it often has before, moved with a conviction that suggests something more deliberate is at play.

Hugo Ekitike has arrived, and whatever you think of the name when the announcement graphic drops later today, know this much, it is not speculative. This is not a hopeful swing. This is a striker brought in to change how Liverpool play and sharpen what was already a title-winning attack. The questions surrounding him are valid, but the answers, if you look closely, are reassuring.

Identity demands clarity

Liverpool under Arne Slot are not the same beast as they were under Jürgen Klopp. The pressing still has bite, but there is a cleaner shape to it now, a more structured aggression. Slot’s title-winning side did not rely on a traditional number nine, instead rotating through options like Gakpo, Nunez and Jota with mixed consistency.

That approach delivered silverware, but it also came with a familiar ache. In tight games, Liverpool lacked the kind of striker who lives between defenders, who threatens the back line constantly, who scores not just the spectacular, but the routine. Hugo Ekitike is here to solve that.

At 23, he arrives from Eintracht Frankfurt having scored 22 goals and provided 12 assists in all competitions. But it is not the raw numbers that excite. It is the profile. His movement is calculated. He drifts wide, then darts in. He attacks space with purpose and makes defenders second-guess their positioning. That positional IQ is rare at his age. It is not flair. It is function.

His frame is deceptive too. He is tall and lean but moves like a winger. He presses with energy, contributes creatively and thrives in transition. For a manager like Slot who prizes vertical triggers and structured counter-attacks, Ekitike fits like a well-measured puzzle piece.

Tactical shape finds its striker

Last season, Liverpool led the Premier League in direct attacks with 98 and goals from those transitions with 10. Slot’s system is vertical by design, built to draw opponents in, win the ball quickly, and explode forward. What was missing was a forward who could consistently act as the release valve and the finisher. Ekitike is that player.

He ranked in the top five Bundesliga players for shot-ending carries with 35, rivalling the likes of Mbappe and Lamine Yamal across Europe’s top leagues. His top speed has been clocked above 35 kilometres per hour, a physical trait that adds serious threat in behind. In short, when Liverpool win the ball in their own half, Ekitike gives them a line-breaking outlet.

Ekitike also averaged over 7.2 touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes and 4.1 shots per 90, placing him alongside elite names like Dembele and Mbappe in that regard. That combination of involvement and output is rare. Add in 0.67 non-penalty xG per 90 and 0.24 expected assists, and you begin to see a forward who is not waiting for service, but shaping the attack himself.

There is also the pressing, which matters more than ever in Liverpool’s current structure. Ekitike recorded 15.3 high-intensity pressures per 90, leading all Frankfurt players last season. Of those, 16.7 percent led directly to a shot, ranking sixth-best across the Bundesliga. These are not empty sprints. These are productive actions, and they match the DNA of Liverpool’s front line perfectly.

More than goals, but still about goals

Much of the discussion around Ekitike has focused on his finishing. It is fair to say he underperformed in that area last season, scoring 15 goals from over 21.6 xG. That level of inefficiency would concern any recruitment team, if it were consistent. But it is not.

Look back further. Across his career at Reims and Frankfurt, Ekitike has swung both ways, some seasons overperforming, some under. That suggests variance, not a fundamental flaw. He also missed two penalties last season, which artificially increased his xG deficit by nearly two goals. Remove those and the underperformance looks far less severe.

Recruitment teams, particularly at Liverpool, do not base decisions on isolated snapshots. They look for trends across large data sets. Ekitike’s trend line shows a forward capable of consistently generating high-quality chances, pressing aggressively and linking play at a high technical level. His development arc is upward, and at 23, he still has headroom.

He is also not reliant on being the main man. One of his most underrated traits is how he enhances others. At Frankfurt, he created 44 open play chances, the most in the squad and among the top seven in the Bundesliga. He drops into space to pull defenders, he plays subtle balls into the path of onrushing teammates, and he links wide players into the move.

For Salah, this is a gift. No longer isolated or forced to carry the line himself, he gets a target to bounce off, a runner who drags centre backs out of shape. For Wirtz and Gakpo, there is now someone creating angles between the lines. It changes the geometry of the attack entirely.

Purpose outweighs preference

Some Liverpool fans will feel underwhelmed by the signing, especially those who had hoped for a more glamorous name. I understand that. I remember feeling similar when Mane and Salah arrived. Neither were the loudest options available. Both became indispensable. So perhaps the lesson is not to trust the headline, but to trust the pattern.

Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes are not spending £79 million for the sake of it. This is not just an attempt to add depth or freshen up the front line. This is a reset of the forward line’s shape and rhythm. Ekitike brings stylistic compliance, tactical variation and positional clarity. These are traits Liverpool have needed centrally since Roberto Firmino’s final years.

He may not wear the number nine shirt yet, but he plays like one. And not the isolated, old-fashioned version of the role either. He is a pressing forward, a connector, a runner, a finisher and a structural threat. He does not replace Salah, but he enhances him. He does not hinder Gakpo. He creates space for him. And if he hits the kind of numbers his underlying data suggests are possible, Liverpool will be in the thick of trophies again.

This is not a punt. It is a plan. And like most things this Liverpool regime has done when acting decisively, it deserves the benefit of belief.