Arne Slot's candid Hugo Ekitike admission spoke volumes about Liverpool striker

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Hugo Ekitike is Liverpool's top scorer this season having signed from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer but there is one area of his game he and Arne Slot knows he must improve onHugo Ekitike has enjoyed a promising first season in the red of Liverpool after completing a summer switch from Eintracht Frankfurt for an initial fee of £69million.Earning comparisons to former star striker Fernando Torres for his lethal blend of pace, trickery and finishing ability, Ekitike has taken to the Premier League like a duck to water and has double the league goals tally (10) of his next closest team-mate in Cody Gakpo.In the injury absence of £125 million record signing Alexander Isak, and with last season's PFA Player of the Year Mohamed Salah enduring his first poor season since joining the club nine years ago, greater responsibility has landed on the shoulders of the Frenchman.A run of four games without a goal has therefore brought greater scrutiny on Ekitike, and supporters and pundits have identified one area of his game that requires improvement.In the head coach's press conference ahead of Saturday's game against West Ham United at Anfield, journalist Mo Stewart asked Arne Slot about Ekitike's headed conversion rate and whether training this attribute was more difficult in the modern game, with greater understanding of the potential impact this action can make on players developing neurodegenerative conditions later in life.Slot said: "No, I don't think so. I'm working with players that always want to develop, so this is one of his points that he wants and tries to develop, and that we do work on."Not every day, because that's not possible for other reasons than safety, but it's a part of his game that we, but also he himself, wants to develop, because he could have scored a few more goals if he would have been better in that part of the game."But being 22, 23 [Ekitike is 23], I think it's quite normal that there are always parts of the game you can improve, and this for him is one of them."It was a question that opened up some insight into how quickly certain training methods become outdated - Slot called time on his playing career less than 13 years ago - but the Liverpool boss didn't give anything away as to how exactly he and his coaches work with players to improve their heading ability in 2026.Nevertheless, it was refreshing to hear Slot speak so candidly about one of his star players' weaknesses, and the response reflected well on both Ekitike and the club's coaching staff.Clearly, Ekitike's heading is far from his strongest attribute.

But that would ignore very obvious issues with his headers that are only apparent when watching him play.Ekitike's headers seem to lack the power generated by strikers who excel in this area, meaning his looping efforts rely on good placement to find the back of the net - see his goal against Tottenham Hotspur.The Leeds miss perhaps also demonstrated a difficulty with getting his gangly 6ft 3in frame into the right position to execute a header well.Unfavourable comparisons with the late, great Diogo Jota are inevitable, such was the Portuguese's excellence in timing his jumps and generating immense power and direction with his neck muscles - despite a considerable height disadvantage next to Ekitike.It should be noted that Jota, too, underperformed his headed xG in his final season at Liverpool, though without passing up any chances quite as clear cut as Ekitike's against Leeds.Importantly, though, despite standing at just 5ft 10in, Jota won more of his aerial duels (40.7%) than Ekitike (38%). Becoming more dominant at winning headers should give Ekitike more room to direct them better, and should be an achievable goal as he bulks up and grows into his sizeable frame.Another weakness, but one less discussed and perhaps more related to confidence, is Ekitike's overreliance on his dominant right foot.The technique he boasts over other strikers to take tiny touches to set up his shots onto his favoured side often lets the France international get away with this, but of the shots he has taken with his left foot, they have actually by and large been accurate.Over the course of the Premier League season, Ekitike has taken just six shots with his left foot, for a total of 1.54 xG.

Only one has missed the target altogether, a shocking miss worth 0.39 xG within the six-yard box against Burnley.Four others were on target, including his goal in the 3-3 against Leeds at Elland Road, while one from the edge of the box against Chelsea was blocked when seemingly on course for the target.Just six shots is too small a sample size to draw any conclusions on his reliability with his left foot. For example, Ekitike's conversion rate with his right foot is actually lower, with seven goals from 40 shots, but no one would argue this makes Ekitike left-footed.With a higher volume of shots on his right foot, this instead indicates Ekitike is willing to take on more difficult chances with his stronger foot; indeed, he has outperformed his xG (4.4) significantly on his preferred side.Ultimately, if a striker's shots are as heavily biased towards their right foot as Ekitike's are, it doesn't matter how good their left foot might be.A striker who relies too heavily on one side could end up passing up scorable chances on their weaker side, making this another area to focus on in training as the young striker seeks to develop his confidence for shooting with both feet.But, as Slot says, it is normal for a player to have weaknesses in their game at the age of 23, and the thought of an Ekitike who can add regular headed goals to his repertoire, as well as shooting with both feet, is a mouth-watering prospect indeed.