Hugo Ekitike sends warning to Alexander Isak and shoots down lazy Liverpool comparisons
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Ian Doyle has covered Liverpool for more than 20 years, following them across Europe in multiple Champions League and Europa League finals and as far afield as Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong and Qatar, and has reported on the Reds winning every major honour.
Once had to tell Jude Law he does not drive a Mini.
Hugo Ekitike hasn’t taken long to start living up to the hype of his song.
And now the striker can add being a Merseyside derby matchwinner to his already growing list of achievements.
The France international has been an instant hit with Liverpool supporters, helped in no small part by the catchy chant which the player himself has warmly embraced.
But it takes more than just an earworm for Anfield to be convinced.
Just as well, then, that Ekitike continues to show the Premier League is very much to his liking.
If there has been a wider sense of the 23-year-old merely keeping the striking role warm for the inevitable moment Alexander Isak assumes the position, evidently it’s not a view shared by Ekitike.
And having watched Isak command the attention on his debut in the midweek Champions League win over Atletico Madrid, here the fellow newcomer, a £79million signing from Eintracht Frankfurt, gave another stirring demonstration of his own wares.
From the first whistle, Ekitike understood the brief against an Everton side which had been set up to contain in a similar fashion to both Atletico and, last weekend, Burnley.
The forward was aggressive in helping harangue the Blues rearguard and, in the opening moments, showed some neat touches in keeping possessing and allowing Liverpool to both increase pressure and counter at lightning speed.
No Reds player completed more dribbles and had more shots.
Goals, though, are the currency of any forward.
And Ekitike’s fourth goal in seven games – three in the Premier League – was a suitable showcase, the Frenchman controlling Ryan Gravenberch’s inviting throughball with one touch before despatching between the legs of Jordan Pickford.
The shot had been released before the Everton goalkeeper had time to properly set himself, a swift finish the like of which the Kop faithful are becoming accustomed from Ekitike.
Liverpool’s second goal inside a blistering opening half-hour period, it ultimately proved decisive after the home team dropped off massively in the second half to allow the visitors into the game.
While comparisons with Darwin Nunez, one of the strikers Ekitike has replaced, are inherently lazy, there’s no doubt the new man brings an air of calm composure with his aggression more channelled than that of the Uruguayan.
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Isak’s peripheral outing after replacing Ekitike midway through the second half underlined it will understandably be some time before the Sweden international is fully firing.
Ekitike, though, has hit the ground running at Liverpool.