Hugo Ekitike has loved a terrific begin to his Liverpool profession, excluding the useless pink card that he picked up within the Carabao Cup win over Southampton final month.
After becoming a member of from Eintracht Frankfurt for an preliminary £69m deal in July (The Impartial), the Frenchman wanted solely eight matches to achieve 5 targets for the Reds, the latest of which was his late winner in opposition to the Saints three weeks in the past.
Sadly, in eradicating his shirt to have fun that purpose, he was proven a second yellow card by Tom Bramall and duly missed the 2-1 Premier League defeat to Crystal Palace the next Saturday via suspension.
Ekitike was hammered by some pundits over his indiscretion in opposition to Southampton, with Chris Sutton labelling it an act of ‘sheer stupidity‘, however the 23-year-old hasn’t gone down in his teammates’ estimation due to that incident.
Ekitike stays a ‘well-liked determine’ amongst Liverpool teammates
In a Q&A for The Athletic, James Pearce was requested by one reader if that ‘egocentric celebration’ from the striker ‘had an affect within the altering room’ at Anfield.
The journalist replied: “No, I don’t consider so. He apologised to his team-mates, it was accepted and so they all moved on. He’s a preferred determine who made a foolish mistake.
“Hugo Ekitike has been the decide of the summer season signings to date, and he massively appreciates the bond he has rapidly established with the supporters. On that evening he bought overly excited after getting the winner, fully forgot he had already been booked and paid the worth with that one-match ban. No one nonetheless holds it in opposition to him.”
Ekitike has been terrific, other than that foolish pink card
Though Slot branded the motion as ‘silly‘ on the time, he subsequently confirmed that – opposite to what some experiences had speculated – the 23-year-old wasn’t fined over that pink card and had issued a honest apology to his teammates.
That was successfully the tip of the matter so far as the Liverpool squad and training workers have been involved, and it doesn’t change the reality that Ekitike has had an incredible affect since becoming a member of the Reds in the summertime.
With out his targets, the champions can be 4 factors worse off within the Premier League, which’d at present go away them in eighth place and with a five-point hole to leaders Arsenal.
The Frenchman was badly missed within the defeat to Palace, which triggered the present three-match shedding streak and has represented an undesirable turning level in our season, however his general contribution at Anfield to date has been glorious.
If Ekitike have been to bag the profitable purpose in opposition to Manchester United on Sunday, his recognition on the Kop – which is already fairly excessive – would soar to a a lot higher stage!
You’ll be able to watch Slot’s post-Chelsea press convention by way of Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
