Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry has been revealed to hold some reservations about striker Hugo Ekitike.
The Eintracht Frankfurt striker has been the talk of the summer with interest from Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester United widely reported.
You don’t get those kinds of clubs clogging up your phone without a good level of talent, but Henry feels his fellow countryman has some way to go before he is the complete package.
Henry’s feelings on Ekitike revealed amid Liverpool advance
Any young player making a name for himself on the European stage is never far from a lofty comparison. In Ekitike’s case, he has big shoes to fill, with corners of the media selecting Henry as his guiding light.
Henry has done a spot of coaching and also works as a pundit, most prominently for American broadcaster CBS, with ex-Manchester City star Micah Richards.
During an episode of Richards’ podcast The Rest Is Football, the former right-back revealed the observations Henry has made.
“In terms of Ekitike, I've spoken to Thierry about him a lot,” Richards began. “He says he's not a frustrating player, but one minute he looks amazing and the next minute he does not do the basics very well.
“He said if he gets it right and improves then his ceiling could be very, very high."
The Reds will hope Henry is right in that last part of his assessment, as the striker has given the green light to a deal, which could soon provoke an official bid.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, when one of the greatest forwards the Premier League has ever seen speaks, you have to listen.
What will settle minds on Merseyside, however, is that Henry’s main gripe with Ekitike is with “the basics”, presumably habits and approaches that can be fixed in training.
Newcastle had a bid of £70m rejected, so the Reds will no doubt pay more than that if they get him and will therefore be praying the striker finds the high ceiling Henry identifies.
Ekitike is valued at €75m, according to Transfermarkt.
