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How flamboyant Eintracht Frankfurt star Hugo Ekitike recovered from 'mental weakness' to become one of Europe's hottest young strikers - and how much ......
Apr 17, 2025
PLUS Why Ekitike has already been compared to a legendary France forward
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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.
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