That name you keep hearing: Hugo Ekitike. Exactly how good is the Chelsea and Man Utd target?

New York Times

5 hours ago

Seen enough of Jonathan David? Not too fussed regarding Benjamin Sesko? A Viktor Gyokeres skeptic? Well, how about the next name on the carousel of striker transfer speculation, Hugo Ekitike?
As reported in The Athletic's DealSheet on Monday, Manchester United have enquired about the availability of the Eintracht Frankfurt forward in recent weeks, and he's also on the radar of Chelsea. The German club are adamant that the Frenchman will not leave for less than their €100million (£85.5m; $115m) asking price — just over six times what they paid Paris Saint-Germain for him last year — but are willing to be flexible around the structure of a deal.
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It might seem an audacious stance, but having secured Champions League football for next season, Frankfurt have little reason to sell. They have banked sizeable fees from parting with Randal Kolo Muani, Willian Pacho (both to Paris Saint-Germain) and Omar Marmoush (to Manchester City) within the past two years, and don't believe that Ekitike — who got 22 goals and 12 assists for them last season — has reached his potential with the club.
Yet Ekitike's elegance on the ball and increasing confidence in front of goal are turning heads. Combine that with his height (190cm/6ft 3in), marked defensive appetite and youth — he turns 23 tomorrow (Friday) — and Europe's superclubs are likely to test Frankfurt's resolve before the window shuts on September 1.
But specifically, what would he bring to Manchester United or Chelsea? The Athletic analyses his game to find out.
Ekitike has made significant progress during his 18 months in the Bundesliga. He initially arrived at Frankfurt on loan in January 2024 after only playing limited minutes at PSG, where Kylian Mbappe was still the main attacking force. It took time, but the young forward began to hit his stride as that season came to a close, scoring or assisting in each of Frankfurt's final five league games.
With the move made permanent in the summer, Ekitike picked up where he left off in the new season, dovetailing nicely in a strike partnership with Marmoush at the top of a quick counter-attacking side. No team generated more expected goals (xG) from Opta-defined fast breaks than coach Dino Topmoller's lads across Europe's top four leagues last season, and Ekitike was central to most of those moves.
His profile is suited to exploiting the space on the transition: a rangy dribbler out wide with a knack for arriving in dangerous areas to finish. He was the only centre-forward in Europe's top five leagues last season to take over 200 touches in the opposition penalty box and to carry the ball into it at least 50 times — he is both a provider and a poacher when his team can move quickly upfield.
He starts the following move against Bochum with an alert interception, swaying his way back into midfield before powering past his marker and into space out on the wing.
Bringing the bounce-pass under control, Ekitike wastes no time in making his way to the penalty area, cutting the ball back for Jean-Matteo Bahoya to shoot.
Not only powerful and difficult to contain, Ekitike's directness often gives the opposition little time to recover their shape.
Against Eintracht Braunschweig in August, Ekitike picks up the ball on the opposite side, barging his way into the box after a neat one-two with Marmoush. He follows up his run with an outside-of-the-boot cross to find Fares Chaibi in the middle to score.
It's a technique that Ekitike resorts to often, able to dig out difficult passes with consistent accuracy.
With space to gallop into, Ekitike's ball-carrying can make a huge impact — Mbappe, now at Real Madrid, was the only centre-forward to complete more dribbles of 10+ yards that led to a team shot in 2024-25.
As we can see from his forward carries map below, Ekitike is very happy to drift across the final third to get on the ball, equally lively on both flanks and very dynamic from his striker's role.
Ekitike sometimes plays more like a winger than a centre-forward, his long, lean frame and desire to dribble drawing comparisons to Alexander Isak. Much like the Newcastle and Sweden striker, he can produce something from very little, able to slalom between defenders and find the corners from distance.
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Here against Bayern Munich, for example, Ekitike receives a crisp pass with his back to goal, before taking a decisive touch to cut inside and wriggling between two defenders. Once away, he is quick to shoot, catching goalkeeper Manuel Neuer off-guard with a curling shot into the far corner.
There was also a laser-like finish from a similar area away to Tottenham, and Ekitike bent one in from that left side following a nutmeg against Ajax.
As impressive as his dribbling can be, Ekitike is sometimes prone to some poor decision-making after winding runs, particularly after he beats one or two men.
Take the clip below against Bayer Leverkusen — he does brilliantly to escape the corner flag with a clever flick, and shows great power to charge into the area, but then decides to take on the shot when he's clearly off-balance, turning down the easy lay-off to a team-mate on the edge of the box.
It's something that can be worked on, but over-excitement after a positive action goes some way to explaining why his shot accuracy of 40 per cent is lower than that of most elite strikers in Europe.
That said, Ekitike is plainly a force to be reckoned with on the counter.
United's interest in him makes sense, given head coach Ruben Amorim's preference for tall, focal-point centre-forwards who can run the channels and bring others into play, while his natural positivity could flourish at the Old Trafford club with the similarly ambitious Bruno Fernandes moving the ball up to him quickly.
We shouldn't discount Liverpool either — ruthless on the break, and potentially in the market for a No 9 should Darwin Nunez leave.
If anything could push United into making Frankfurt an offer, the fear of missing out on him to their bitter rivals might well spur them on.
Ekitike isn't just about open spaces and tricks on the wing — he has an eye for a killer pass in the final third.
His technical ability often translates to sharp interplay around the penalty area, while his agility, as well as his awareness under pressure, sees him take some surprising touches at crucial moments, including a cheeky back-heeled assist after bursting into the box against Borussia Monchengladbach in 2023-24.
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Here, against Werder Bremen, he originally looks to dart between the two centre-backs to attack the near post in frame one.
Nathaniel Brown's cross is pulled behind him, but Ekitike reacts quickly to halt his forward momentum, sort out his feet and lay the ball off for Mario Gotze to score, his physical dominance clear as he holds off a defender with ease.
Similarly, against Hoffenheim, Ekitike produces a deft first-time pass on the break. As Marmoush races forward down the right, he drops off to receive the pass, before sharply twisting his hips and punching the ball into the path of an onrushing Hugo Larsson to score.
Though it can sometimes look unorthodox, Ekitike is clearly very intelligent around the box, with the variety of his link-up play repeatedly catching defenders off-guard.
When he does attack the box, it's that raw pace and his eye for goal that gets him into position before defenders. Only four players — Mbappe, Barcelona duo Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah — generated more combined expected goals (xG) and expected assists (xAG) in 2024-25, outlining his double threat.
A closer look at his shotmap shows an ability to sniff out a chance in the penalty area, with eight goals from inside the six-yard box including powerful headers, bundled finishes and tap-ins after well-timed runs.
Something else that stands out is Ekitike's underperformance relative to his expected goals.
While his output was excellent in a Frankfurt team tailored to his strengths on the counter, able to fashion chances at a healthy rate, there are concerns that his shooting technique might not guarantee goals over the long run, particularly if opportunities start to dry up.
Ekitike's ball-striking is not hugely consistent, and for every time he pulls a rabbit out of the hat with a cleanly-hit finish, there are instances where he struggles to wrap his body around the ball.
Against Gladbach below, for example, it gets stuck under his feet. It's harder for such a tall striker to adjust his body, but he persists and goes for the shot, but is unable to get enough power behind his effort.
Putting Ekitike at the top of a more structured, possession-based side, where the centre-forward is less likely to have as much freedom to roam, banks on his instinctive finishing and technique in tight spaces to hold up. He doesn't often play against lower blocks, and isn't always able to rely on his ball-striking — the way former team-mate Marmoush can — to make the difference in stodgier games.
His back-to-goal play is generally good, able to hold defenders off and link the play with one-touch passes and simple lay-offs. That said, a move to Chelsea — unless he was to play off their new No 9 Liam Delap — risks curbing the most natural part of his game.
At full flow, Ekitike is a delight to watch, floating across the attacking third with the grace that is unexpected of a player with his build. But he is at his most destructive when he moves with the game, switching positions, picking his moments to hang back, attack the box, or drift out wide to drive the team up the pitch.
Another season in Frankfurt — which is an ideal place for him to flourish — might provide more evidence that his game can translate to other leagues.