Fabrizio Romano confirms Liverpool in talks over SENSATIONAL €100m striker deal

Liverpool are in the hunt for a striker and one player's name is commonly being reported.

That player is Hugo Ekitike at Eintracht Frankfurt, a young 22-year-old Frenchman who has been creating a lot of attention this season following a 34-goal contribution campaign.

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Among others, he is one of the leading candidates to replace Darwin Nunez as the Reds's striker, although extensive interest from Chelsea has been reported, which led Liverpool fans to believe that the club might have missed out on the opportunity to secure his signature for a long-term move.

However, we have no received an update on his situation and things are looking promising.

Ekitike is still considering his options

According to Fabrizio Romano, writing in his Give Me Sport newsletter, not all hope is lost for Ekitike.

In response to the question, 'does he have a Premier League club he would prefer to join?', he said: "No, he's considering all his options and still talking to all these clubs [Manchester United], Liverpool and Chelsea]. No decision has been made yet."

As such, the Reds can think positively about their chances, although his €100m asking price is still going to be a significant hurdle for Liverpool to get passed before an official approach is made.

Using the current exchange rate, that figure would be around £85m, which is what the previously agreed fee for Nunez to join the club was back in 2022, although the initial fee was just £65m with £20m in add-ons - £12.7m of which were actually triggered, taking his outlay to £77.7m.

Nonetheless, a move with a similar cost would need to be heavily considered, even if the approach this summer is to spend money when necessary. A level of certainty about Ekitike would be required.

Finding that confidence in a player is difficult however, we all know how excited people were when Nunez joined in a move that was based predominantly on his potential rather than a track-record.

Ekitike's transfer would be exactly the same thing, with his 34 goal contributions last season making up over half of his 62 career attacking involvements. In + of itself, that's a pretty major red flag.

Over time, he might well prove himself and back-up what he achieved throughout his last campaign, but that £85m is a significant risk right now, make no mistake about it. Liverpool will be aware of that.

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But the news here is that we're in the hunt, and given how in-demand strikers are right now, that's an important update. Chelsea have been brutal in their business across the last few years and when they set their eyes on someone, it's normally a non-contest. This time around, it's an open race.

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