It took Hugo Ekitike just six minutes to show the rest of Europe why he’s one of the most wanted young strikers on the continent.
The 22-year-old received the pass a little inside Tottenham’s half, drove at retreating full back Pedro Porro, cut inside, shifted the ball out of his feet and rifled his shot into the bottom corner before the swarm of white shirts could do anything about it.
Off to the corner he ran and slid across the grass on his knees. He later reposted a picture on his Instagram story comparing his celebration to Thierry Henry’s iconic knee slide, an image Spurs fans thought they had long since repressed.
Those premature comparisons to the Arsenal great stretch a little further as when he looked to have signed for Newcastle from Stade Reims nearly three years ago, all the talk in the North East was that the Toon were signing ‘the next Thierry Henry’.
Both tall, slight and elegant in stride. Both centre forwards, who like to drift wide to the left and run at defenders with those long legs and loping gait.
In the end, the move fell through as Ekitike joined Paris Saint-Germain at the last minute. Newcastle bought Alexander Isak instead that summer, and that’s turned out OK, but were miffed at the time by how the deal collapsed because their analysis had led them to believe he was going to be a superstar.
It looks like those analysts were right. Ekitike has 21 goals so far this season, firing Eintracht Frankfurt to third in the Bundesliga and looking to cause Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou yet more headaches this evening as their Europa League quarter-final hangs in the balance.
He has carried the lone ranger mantle since Omar Marmoush, who he called his ‘partner in crime’, joined Manchester City for nearly £60million from Frankfurt in January.
‘He is a complete striker,’ Christopher Michel, Frankfurt reporter at Absolut Fussball told Mail Sport. ‘He’s fast, he can shoot with both feet. He can head the ball well. He’s brilliant with his back to goal. He’s tall. He can dribble. He provides assists. He can be a playmaker. He has the potential to be one of the best strikers in Europe. I even think he has more talent than Omar Marmoush.’
It’s no surprise, then, that the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool are both said to be interested in a move for Ekitike this summer but, if they want him, they will have to fork out the best part of £85m.
‘Ekitike loves being in the limelight,’ Manni Sedlbauer, German football reporter at Sport1 told Mail Sport. ‘He’s very self-confident. He plans unusual celebrations, wears his trousers low and drives a Lamborghini.
‘He’s always wanted to be the best and has worked hard for it. He belongs to this new generation of strikers.’
Ekitike came through the ranks at his hometown club Reims, signing his first professional contract in 2020 aged 17. Coaches saw the talent in him early on.
‘We saw huge potential, something natural, with a feeling for scoring a goal,’ said his Reims reserve team coach Franck Chalencon. ‘He’s a very clever player, which saw him adapt and understand the expectations of professional football. It’s very rare he plays a game without creating a chance himself.’
Before he became a first-team regular, he joined Danish Superliga side Vejle on loan in January 2021 – and his new team-mates were in for a shock when they saw their new signing dancing around the dressing room any time a song came on.
Ekitike struggled early on with the physical demands of the Danish league and needed French team-mate Kevin Yamga to help him with the language barrier.
‘I remember a humble and hard-working kid,’ Jacob Kruger, Vejle’s sporting director at the time, told Mail Sport. ‘He had difficulties at the beginning because it was his first time out of France, he spoke very little English at the time, and he needed to adapt to Danish football.
‘His club was quite angry that he didn’t play and I had them on the phone several times but I never had any complaints from Hugo. He kept working hard and just waiting for his chance.
‘There was one game where the coach changed almost the whole team for a cup game because we were close to relegation but Hugo still wasn’t in the starting line-up. His club was totally p***ed!
‘Hugo didn’t lose faith in himself, kept working hard and when he got his chance he took it.’
Ekitike scored three goals in eight games during the league’s relegation round to keep Vejle in the division, including a brace against rivals AC Horsens as well as two assists in a crucial game against Sonderjyske.
‘If we won, we avoided relegation,’ Jacob Schoop, his captain at Vejle, told the BBC. ‘Hugo was unbelievable in that game. That's the sign of a big-game player - to step up and find that bit extra.’
‘He was a top, top talent,’ added Kruger. ‘We could all see that. He had some extraordinary skills, with his pace, technique, mentality and was a good finisher. You could see he had the whole package but it would be a little too smart to say I saw it all and he would end up like this!’
On his return to Reims for the 2021-22 season, he banged in 10 goals in 24 Ligue 1 appearances – performances that got Newcastle’s whiskers twitching.
‘There is something very special about him,’ said his Reims manager Oscar Garcia that season. ‘He’s young, and he has the quality to become a very good player.’
Newcastle tried to sign him that January, the first window after the Saudi takeover, before nearly getting the job done in the summer.
The bright lights of Paris turned his head and he moved to the French giants, first on loan, then permanently. Ekitike made 25 appearances in Ligue 1 as he won the title alongside Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
He struggled to make his mark, though. Former PSG midfielder Eric Rabesandratana slammed his ‘mental weakness’ and claimed his attitude didn’t ‘correspond at all to what you expect from him as a young person, and especially one who should impose himself at PSG’.
Ekitike was shipped out on loan to Frankfurt in February last year before making the move permanent in April. That’s where the star began to shine, both on the pitch and off it. Goals, glitz and glamour.
‘He’s a bit flamboyant,’ added Michel. ‘You can see it in his style of clothes.’ Ekitike recently posted a picture on Instagram of him wearing a tracksuit covered in diamantes and a pink woolly hat.
He caused a stir among Frankfurt fans, too, during the winter break when he shared a video doing warm weather training in Dubai wearing a Borussia Dortmund shirt.
‘Dino Toppmoller, the Frankfurt head coach once said Hugo costs him a few nerves but he loves him and his attitude,’ said Michel.
‘He’s a cool guy. It was Toppmoller who brought him forward and was very important for his development.’
Since Marmoush’s departure, Ekitike has gone from playing in a front two to proving he has what it takes to lead the line on his own, helped by former Dortmund and Bayern Munich playmaker Mario Goetze pulling the strings behind him.
‘He benefits from Goetze’s brilliant passes and is ice-cold in front of goal,’ said Sedlbauer. ‘Defensive work, on the other hand, is not always Hugo. Nevertheless, he is one of the best strikers in the Bundesliga, perhaps even in Europe.’
Do the business again on Thursday night and it’ll be even more likely it’s the Premier League come next season.