Newcastle United look set to add one of French football’s hottest prospects, Hugo Ekitike, to their ranks on transfer deadline.
When rumours of the club’s potential takeover initially broke, Kylian Mbappe’s name was ironically linked with a move to Tyneside.
That deal was understandably deemed unrealistic but the arrival of the next best thing in Ligue 1 looks as though it could be announced in the final hours of the window.
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On the morning of Deadline Day, it was reported that Newcastle had their bid of between £20m and £25m accepted for Ekitike who has been in red hot form this season.
He has scored eight goals and provided three assists in the French top flight this term, which makes him the highest scoring teenager in Europe’s top five leagues, and his minutes per goal is bettered only by the division’s top scorer Wissam Ben Yedder.
Even Mbappe has been unable to record a similar goals per 90 minute ratio this term but he is still the man who Ekitike looks up to.
Speaking to Foot Mercato about the PSG forward, he said: “Over the last few years, he is the player I watch the most, who inspires me, and not necessarily only on the pitch. That's what it means to be a top-level player and that's what I aspire to become.”
While Ekitike’s build is quite different to Mbappe’s with the Reims striker standing at 6′2″, plenty of similarities have been drawn between the two.
His stature makes it easier to directly compare the 19-year-old to some of the France strikers of generations gone by and one of those is David Trezeguet who, of course, won the World Cup with his country back in 1998.
His former France team mate, Johan Micoud, was the man to make the resemblance between the two forwards which will certainly excite Newcastle supporters.
Ekitike’s rise to prominence has been an interesting one as he has learned his trade in youth teams and in the lower divisions on loan before truly announcing himself to Europe this season.
Reims manager Oscar Garcia is the man who has been trusted with a very youthful Reims side who are in fact the youngest squad in Europe’s major leagues with an average age of just 23.4.
The most exciting of those youngsters has certainly been Ekitike who has mightily impressed his Spanish boss. Earlier this season, he told the Ligue 1 Show on beINSPORTS : “There is something very special about him. He’s young, and he has the quality to become a very good player.
“He’s a young man with a lot of quality but also a lot to improve on, but he works hard in training.”
While he might not go straight into the starting XI at St James’ Park if the deal is confirmed, Ekitike could have a real impact for Newcastle in the coming years.
He will learn plenty from fellow January arrival Chris Wood who has been able to master the art of being a consistent, effective Premier League target man in the last few years.
Alongside the New Zealand international, Ekitike could play a pivotal role between now and the end of the season if the Magpies are to stay in the Premier League.
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