Newcastle have stepped up their curiosity in long-term striker goal Hugo Ekitike.
The Tyneside membership have held conferences in Germany over the previous week with Eintracht Frankfurt for the France U21 worldwide.
Sky in Germany are reporting that additional conferences with Ekitike’s representatives have taken place in Austria, the place Newcastle have travelled for a pre-season coaching camp.
Talks centre on what could be a club-record provide for the 23-year-old, with the Bundesliga facet valuing the striker at £86m.
Alexander Isak is Newcastle’s present membership report after he joined in a £63m deal from Actual Sociedad in August 2022.
Newcastle tried and did not signal Ekitike in 2022, as he moved to Paris Saint-Germain from Reims as a substitute.
Ekitike scored 22 targets in 48 video games throughout all competitions final season for Frankfurt as he helped them qualify for the Champions League.
Ekitike prepared for the following step after Bundesliga breakthrough
Sky Sports activities’ Adam Bate:
When Hugo Ekitike was nonetheless a teen at Stade Reims, the teaching employees ready a improvement plan for him. They analysed the performances of Kylian Mbappe after which picked out two extra gamers that Ekitike would possibly realistically aspire to duplicate.
“These were players with similar profiles from teams that were better than our team, but not at the distance Paris Saint-Germain were from us,” Oscar Garcia, Reims’ then head coach, instructed Sky Sports activities. “We challenged him to reach the level of the other two strikers.”
On the face of it, that was a superbly affordable short-term goal. Previous to his closing season at Reims, Ekitike had not even scored a objective in France’s high tier. He had spent the second half of the earlier marketing campaign on mortgage at Danish membership Vejle Boldklub.
He returned to Reims because the fourth-choice ahead however quickly compelled Oscar to reassess. Quickly after that, the 2 strikers whose degree he had been inspired to hit have been now not in his sights. “Within months, he wanted to reach the same level as Mbappe.”
It’s a story that provides a glimpse into the mindset of the Eintracht Frankfurt ahead who has lengthy been linked with a transfer to the Premier League.
“He always was a talented player but some coaches did not like him because of his profile and sometimes because of his character,” concedes Oscar. “They were thinking he was a little bit arrogant. He always wanted to be compared with the best ones.”
Learn extra about Hugo Ekitike’s rise right here.
Sky Sports activities to point out 215 reside Premier League video games from subsequent season
From subsequent season, Sky Sports activities’ Premier League protection will enhance from 128 matches to at the least 215 video games solely reside.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League video games subsequent season are on Sky Sports activities.
