Liverpool appear to have gone big to sign Hugo Ekitike but there is a lot of risk involved in this transfer.

A striker is, arguably, the most important player on the pitch as they can be the real difference between winning and losing games.

After breaking their club record to sign Darwin Nunez for £85m, the Reds are under a lot of pressure to get their next number nine right as the Uruguayan certainly has not lived up to expectations.

Liverpool nears appointment of Man Utd coach to worsen rivals' worrying trend	Liverpool prepare bid for £86m-rated Hugo Ekitike after being told Eintracht Frankfurt striker WANTS to join them as Newcastle drop out of race	Liverpool may have moved a step closer to another mega deal at the same time as Hugo Ekitike today - opinion

Ekitike is the man they have given this task to and the 23-year-old has a lot of weight on his shoulders, with Liverpool agreeing a deal with Eintracht Frankfurt that could reach up to €95m (£82.3m).

Although all the signs indicate that he is a top player, there is one worrying trend with Frankfurt strikers that the Reds have overlooked, and Ekitike must now prove that they were right to make a move for him.

Of course, a trend is just a trend and it does not mean that it will continue, but it can certainly be seen as a sign of things to come.

Liverpool, however, will hope that Ekitike will be able to break a trend that seems to happen with Frankfurt strikers when they depart the German club for big money, with almost all struggling for form at their next club.

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It started with Luka Jovic in 2019 when he moved to Real Madrid for £52m, with the Serbian netting 40 goals in three seasons at Frankfurt.

However, he scored just three in 51 games during his three years in the Spanish capital, with the price tag severely impacting his confidence.

Sebastian Haller suffered the same fate when moving to West Ham, scoring 15 and assisting nine in his last season in Germany, before netting just 14 times in his two seasons in East London.

The trend does not stop there either.

Andre Silva scored 45 in all competitions across his last two seasons in Frankfurt, only to score 27 in his three seasons with RB Leipzig.

Finally, the latest player to struggle since leaving Frankfurt is Randal Kolo-Muani.

The Frenchman scored 15 and assisted 11 in his final full-season for the club, but netted just nine and assisted a further six in his first season with PSG.

Perhaps this could be a telling sign as to why Ekitike is under even more pressure to succeed at Anfield.

Coming in with such a big price tag is enough pressure as it is, but joining the Premier League champions is a whole other level.

However, the Frenchman has everything he needs to succeed for Liverpool, mainly the players that he will have around him.

The creative prowess the Reds have is second to none and the amount of chances Ekitike will get is frightening, he just needs to be clinical, or even just more clinical than Nunez for that matter.

Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah will be the two most likely to set him up for a big chance on goal and they usually put it on a silver platter for their teammates, meaning the 23-year-old should find it even easier than he has before.

He is by no means the final product but he has all the potential to go to the very top, he will just need to break the trend that Frankfurt strikers seem to have a problem with.


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