Chelsea interested in Hugo Ekitike with Eintracht Frankfurt valuing striker at €100m
Chelsea are interested in Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike, as they seek to conclude early summer transfer business as quickly as possible.
Ekitike, 22, scored 22 goals in 45 all-competition appearances for Frankfurt last season and — according to sources close to the club, granted anonymity to protect relationships — is valued at €100million (£83.9m; $114m), albeit with a negotiable payment structure.
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The 2024-25 season was the France Under-21 international's second year in the Bundesliga, having moved initially on loan from Paris Saint-Germain in January 2024. That transfer was made permanent the following summer for €17.5m.
Ekitike has been a great success and has become one of the most coveted forwards in the division. This term, he was the club's joint-top scorer in the league with 15 goals (tied with Omar Marmoush, who joined Manchester City in January) as Frankfurt finished fourth in the Bundesliga and qualified for the Champions League for only the second time in their history — the first via a league finish having qualified via winning the Europa League in 2022.
Ekitike will be expensive, though, and Frankfurt have a strong recent history of negotiating big fees, particularly for forwards. The deal to sell Marmoush to Manchester City was worth €75m and in 2023, they sold Randal Kolo Muani to Paris Saint-Germain for €95m.
Chelsea's priority this summer is to sign a striker and a right-footed winger, with Ipswich Town's Liam Delap and RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko among the forwards they are also considering.
As reported by The Athletic in March, Chelsea are eager to move swiftly through the market this summer and finalise all incomings and outgoings by the end of June. They are keen to head into pre-season with a settled squad and to maximise the preparation time ahead of Enzo Maresca's second season. While that has always been the intended strategy, they are also emboldened by having secured their own Champions League qualification, having beaten Nottingham Forest on the final day of the Premier League season.
Ekitike ended the season with 22 goals and 12 assists in 48 appearances across all competitions.
Analysis by German football writer Sebastian Stafford-Bloor
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Ekitike is fast becoming an excellent player. The first few months of the 2024-25 season were characterised by his combinations and understanding with Marmoush and, before the Egyptian's departure for City, they became one of the most dangerous pairings in the Bundesliga.
It was in that partnership that Ekitike showed the variety within his game. A goalscorer, yes, but also a devastating counter-attacker — as Tottenham Hotspur found out in the Europa League, against whom he scored brilliantly in the first leg of their quarter-final — and a forward capable of creating chances, with pieces of skill or well-weighted passes that befuddled defenders. Either through the middle or down the left of the attack, he was a menace.
He seemed to grow into the gaps left by Marmoush, becoming more central to Frankfurt's attacking game in the new year. In addition, while most obviously a technical player, he can be a formidable penalty box target, too, and has shown an aerial presence that can take defenders by surprise. Combine that with his capacity to beat defenders one-on-one, either through speed or skill, and you have the portrait of a player evolving into a complete forward.
There is no question that he is still developing. He must become more efficient and is occasionally prone to snatching at chances, but he is as talented as there is in German football and Premier League interest this summer was inevitable.
Additional reporting: Dan Sheldon
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New York Times
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an hour ago
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New York Times
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Guardiola chose to reinvent O'Reilly, from an attacking midfielder into a left-back, due to the team's injury troubles and he put in some stellar performances, especially against Bournemouth in March when his rampaging runs set up two goals. He has a wide passing range, can dribble, tackle and score — the full package of skills — and plays with the maturity of someone much more experienced. Blue Moon, a ballad first composed by Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart in 1934, is City's club anthem, though their rendition is a revved-up version perfect for the terraces. It is the song that fills the Etihad Stadium air at kick-off on a matchday and it blares out regularly during games too. Advertisement Sung for over 30 years by City fans, folklore says it was first adopted in ironic fashion. City were not used to winning in that era and were relegated from the top flight in 1987 without a single away victory all season. Attempting to make light of their travails, it is believed some fans drew parallels with the phrase 'once in a blue moon' and sang the song. It has stuck ever since, but the irony in 2025 is that City have barely been able to stop winning in the past decade. Manchester United. Having been in the shadow of their hugely-successful neighbours for so long, the period of dominance they have enjoyed over the past decade is in stark contrast to the turmoil that has plagued United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013. City have flipped the fear factor that used to exist when Ferguson was in charge of United and have inflicted several embarrassing losses upon them. Since a 6-1 away win at Old Trafford in 2011, they have won Manchester derbies by a three-goal margin or more another five times. United have still, despite their differing form, won 10 of those matches since Guardiola's summer 2016 arrival, including the 2023-24 FA Cup final. It is why City's fans are revelling in the current struggles of their rivals. On the final day of last season away to Fulham, a new chant parodying a popular modern United song was heard: 'Ruben Amorim… they're never gonna win again… they're crying in the Stretford End… the Reds are going down…'. If you are the sort of person who watches the first two Rocky movies and finds themselves rooting for Apollo Creed, then you are going to love City's Club World Cup group. Up against the third-best team from Morocco last season, Wydad AC, and United Arab Emirates' fifth-strongest force for the same campaign, Al Ain, there are plenty of Davids for Goliath fans to wish ill upon. Advertisement Beyond the group stage, providing City navigate their way past that hazardous terrain, neutrals may find the prospect of them winning the tournament as the perfect precursor for a Premier League season in which there could be the widest number of credible title-challengers in years. (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Kelsea Petersen)
