Coming off a strong 2024/25 season with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, Hugo Ekitike earned a big-money move to Liverpool. For the Frenchman’s services, the Reds ended up paying an initial fee of £69m (€80m), with an additional £10m (€12.5m) also included in the package as performance-based add-ons.
As a young, relatively unproven talent joining one of the biggest clubs in the football and arguably the most physically demanding league in the world, many doubts were raised about Ekitike’s ability to make an impact in England.
In the months that followed, however, the striker went on to give all his doubters an emphatic answer, putting in several superb performances to quickly establish himself as a fan-favourite at Anfield.
He was one of the few players that maintained a high level of performance even though Liverpool, as a team, struggled for consistency all year.
Before his time with the Reds even began, though, Hugo Ekitike almost got things started on the wrong foot.
Via a snapchat story he shared on Wednesday, Ekitike hilariously revealed his slightly tone-deaf choice of attire when he was about to initially sign for Liverpool exactly one year ago, as he chose to wear an Adidas tracksuit with a prominent blue and white colour scheme.
“I sign for Liverpool with a blue outfit what a dumb idea 😂😂,” Ekitike captioned his Snapchat story.
The reason why this could be seen as a slightly controversial choice of attire is because blue and white are the traditional colours of Liverpool’s bitter rivals, Everton.
Just like Liverpool, Everton are also based in the county of Merseyside, and their respective home stadiums, Anfield and Goodison Park were less than a mile apart for several decades before Everton shifted to their new home, the Hill Dickinson Stadium, in August 2025.
The Merseyside derby is the longest-running top-flight derby in English football. The first meeting between the two sides took place on October 13, 1894, and the two teams have faced each other in the first division every single year without interruption since the 1962–63 season.
Though it was Everton that won the very first meeting back in 1894 by three goals to nil, it is now Liverpool that holds the all-time head-to-head advantage, having won 102 out of 248 total meetings.
Hugo Ekitike also had a significant part to play in helping Liverpool secure one of those wins, as his 29th minute goal proved the be the match-winner, when the two rivals met at Anfield on September 20, 2025.
Much to the frustration of Liverpool fans and Hugo Ekitike himself, the striker’s strong run of form was disrupted by injury in April, as he ruptured his right achilles tendon during a Champions League fixture against PSG.
With the recovery timeline usually taking 8-12 months, the setback also heartbreakingly caused Ekitike to miss the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as he was looking to be a big part of France manager Didier Deschamps’ plans for the summer.
For now, Ekitike has joined the 31-man Liverpool squad who are in USA for 3 pre-season matches to keep up his morale as he continues working hard on the sidelines. A swift return isn’t on the cards considering the seriousness of his injury and fans will hope to see him play in the second half of 2026/27 season.
