The 22-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain striker is attracting a lot of Premier League interest with his fine form this season
Just like everyone else at Eintracht Frankfurt, Hugo Ekitike was sorry to see Omar Marmoush leave for Manchester City during the January transfer window. The pair had clicked both on and off the field at Deutsche Bank Park, which explains why the Frenchman tries to watch his former team-mate in action for Pep Guardiola's team whenever he can.
"We shared some great moments together," Ekitike told the Bundesliga's official website last month. "And I hope we can play together again or face each other soon." It's certainly a distinct possibility, as speculation is mounting that Ekitike is destined to end up in England this summer, with Manchester United said to be leading the race to sign the French forward.
So, just how good is Ekitike and would be a good fit for the Ruben Amorim-led revolution at Old Trafford? GOAL tells you everything you need to know about the childhood United fan below…
Where it all began
Ekitike was born in Reims in June 2002 to a French mother and Cameroonian father, and started out playing for Cormontreuil FC, a small amateur outfit located on the south-eastern outskirts of the city. He scored freely at under-age level, but he wasn't one for show-boating. Even as a kid, he was considered incredibly professional and level-headed, solely focused on improving himself as a player.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn't long before Reims came calling and they signed an 11-year-old Ekitike in 2013. As one of his former coaches at Cormontreuil joked in an interview with GOAL, "They must have been fed up with Hugo scoring goals against them every time their teams came to play against us!"
Reims knew they had a potential star on their hands and handed the forward his professional debut in October 2020, after he'd impressed in the fourth tier with the club's B team. However, Ekitike was still only 18 at the time and ever thinner than he is now. It was clear that he was quite ready for the rigours of top-flight football in France.
Consequently, he was sent out on loan for the second half of the 2020-21 season, to Danish Superliga outfit Vejle. The move was made during the coronavirus pandemic, meaning integrating into his new environment was far from easy, especially as the regulations at the time meant that his agent had to leave Denmark two days after arriving in the country to complete the deal.
A source close to the striker told GOAL, "When he understood the situation, he looked at his agent and said, 'Don't worry, I'll manage.' He was only a kid but he showed great maturity, even though he was arriving in a country with health restrictions, the cold and the language barrier."
Despite the obvious difficulties, Ekitike impressed at Vejle and the six-month spell in Scandinavia proved the making of him. It also served him well when it came to coping with his subsequent struggles at Parc des Princes…
AdvertisementAFPThe big break
Ekitike returned to Reims a far more confident character. He opened his account for the club in a 2-0 win away to Rennes in September and a run of five goals in eight games just before Christmas 2021 led to widespread interest in his prodigious talent. Newcastle even offered an initial £25 million ($32m) for Ekitike on the final day of the January transfer window, but the bid was rejected by Reims, with president Jean-Pierre Caillot explaining that "both the club and the player share the feeling there is still a piece of history to write together."
Indeed, the word at the time was that Ekitike was in no rush to leave the Stade Auguste-Delaune, particularly as Paris Saint-Germain were among the many other clubs keen on signing him. Consequently, it came as no surprise to see the France Under-20 international move to the capital club at the end of the 2021-22 season.
Ekitike initially joined the Parisians on loan, but the deal included an option to buy that would become mandatory if PSG won the league, which they inevitably did. Consequently, the move became permanent in June 2023 for €28.5m (£24m/$31m), plus €6.5m (£5.5m/$7m) in bonuses.
By that point, though, it was clear that Ekitike's days in the French capital were already numbered. He scored three times in four Ligue 1 games midway through the 2022-23 campaign, but started just 12 times in total.
PSG also tried to use Ekitike as a makeweight in their negotiations with Eintracht Frankfurt over Randal Kolo Muani, only for the youngster to reject the chance to move to Germany. However, when Eintracht came calling again in January 2024 after just one Ligue 1 appearance under Luis Enrique during the first half of the season, Ekitike reluctantly agreed to move – and he's not looked back since.
How it's going
Ekitike immediately felt at home in Frankfurt. "Eintracht is like a family," he enthused. "We're all very close."
That unity has been key to the club's emergence as a force in the Bundesliga, with Eintracht currently sitting third in the table with seven rounds remaining, meaning Champions League football is a very real target for Dino Toppmoller's team.
Of course, there had been serious concerns that the loss of Marmoush midway through the season would ruin their top-four hopes, but Ekitike is doing more than most to keep the dream alive. He's scored five Bundesliga goals since the Egyptian's exit, while also playing a starring role in last month's Europa League second-leg rout of Ajax, to take his overall tally to 19 goals in 39 appearances in all competitions.
"Sometimes I sit at home and think, 'Wow, it's already been more than a year!'" Ekitike said last month. "I've gone through all the stages – starting on the bench, coming on as a sub, getting my first starts and now I'm lucky to be playing regularly.
"As I always say: I’m happy, but I want more. I want to score more, assist more. I’m still hungry."
Biggest strengths
Ekitike has admitted that he's studied Kylian Mbappe's game more than any other player over the past few years – and you can tell. The 22-year-old loves nothing better than picking the ball up wide on the left-hand side before cutting in onto his favoured right foot and having a crack at goal.
Furthermore, while Ekitike may not be quite as fast as Mbappe (few are, in fairness!), he does have an explosive turn of pace over the first five metres and can be just as dangerous a dribbler as his compatriot, as he's also blessed with tremendous balance and agility.
Ekitike isn't selfish either, as underlined by his tally of eight assists in all competitions so far this season. He's always looking for room to run into down in the inside channels and is also willing to drop deep to try make things happen or just create space for team-mates to exploit.
