Listing the glittering array of Hugo Ekitiké’s past and present teammates would make a lesser player blush. The Liverpool striker lined up alongside Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé during his Paris Saint-Germain days, limiting the opportunities for the young striker but providing a great schooling for someone who needs every bit of knowledge to have the edge over his current club’s record signing, Alexander Isak.
Ekitiké will come up against a couple more former colleagues in Omar Marmoush and Gianluigi Donnarumma when Liverpool visit Manchester City on Sunday. The Frenchman will lead the line, with Isak not fit to start and perhaps unable to feature. It will be another chance for Ekitiké to prove his training-ground osmosis has turned him into a top-class forward.
What did he take from Messi? “Maybe like his vision. Sometimes I try to see things earlier, before I receive the ball. [From] Neymar I took some tricks and skills, ball control. I took the runs of Kylian – he could do great runs without the ball. So many things, it is difficult to list. But I definitely took stuff from their game. I try to take things from the players I love. I like to watch and try to add to my game to make me more complete.
“He [Mbappé] is quicker than me. I am fast, but he is one of the fastest in the world. I hope one day I get there but we are a different type of player. He has a lot of speed, I am more like a player who is able to do things for the team.”
The two France internationals reunited on Tuesday when Liverpool inflicted defeat on Real Madrid. After a difficult run for Liverpool of six defeats in seven matches, they have two consecutive victories. Mbappé and Ekitiké had a 20-minute chat, discussing how far they have come since the former was dominating at PSG and the latter mainly watching from the bench.
“He saw me in a bad position at PSG so he is happy for me that now things are working out,” Ekitiké said. “He has been like a big brother to me. I was just not playing – it was difficult at the end. He was always good to me, always gave me advice.”
A lack of game time at his first club, Reims, resulted in Ekitiké making the bold decision to join the Danish side Vejle on loan. “It was not a weird move but not what you expect from a young player. Most thought I would go to the second division in France but I made the choice to go to Denmark. Obviously it was difficult but really good. I got consistent minutes, I learned a lot from this league, the opponents were really strong, I got confidence for when I returned to France.”
Ekitiké is doing his best to heed Arne Slot’s advice to work harder off the ball. Since joining from Eintracht Frankfurt, the 23-year-old has scored six times in 15 appearances and received a red card after a second booking for celebrating netting the Carabao Cup winner against Southampton by removing his shirt, leading to Slot calling his exuberance “stupid”.
What other guidance has Slot offered Ekitiké? “Obviously keep my shirt on,” he says with a smile. “I would say he’s on my back, but not for a bad thing. He just wants to help me, so I don’t take that badly. He wants me to give more and more. Maybe sometimes you feel like it’s a little bit too much and you want to complain. It’s a good thing because I think if a coach doesn’t like you, he will not speak to you or not try to get the best of you.”
Fitness, suspension and tactics have kept Ekitiké and Isak apart for all but 62 minutes. Both are naturally No 9s, fighting it out for the starting position in a 4-3-3, but Ekitiké has spent time on the wings. “I think I’m able to play with any players and we can definitely play together,” Ekitiké says. He is certain they will “learn how to find connections and links”.
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Erling Haaland has offered a fine example of what it is to be a world-class No 9, scoring 27 times for club and country this season. Ekitiké will hope his teammates can keep the Norwegian out but, based on recent evidence, that will prove difficult. “He’s been one of the best strikers in the world for a few years,” Ekitiké says. “He’s able to do things without touching the ball much during the game, and it’s really impressive. He’s definitely someone I’m looking at.”
Plenty will be looking at Ekitiké, too. There is an internal battle of the No 9s at Liverpool and if Ekitiké is to be the victor, winning this head-to-head with Haaland will help the cause of a striker who never stops learning.
