Hugo Ekitike agreement reached as Liverpool 'crisis' claim confirmed

Ekitike

Arne Slot has been told to put his faith in Hugo Ekitike as Liverpool's first-choice striker as Alexander Isak struggles for fitness since his £125million move.

Isak has found life difficult since arriving from Newcastle United on deadline day at the start of last month having missed a proper pre-season of training.

By contrast, Ekitike has hit the ground running by netting six goals in 13 appearances having joined for £79m from Eintracht Frankfurt earlier in the summer.

Isak is likely to be absent from Wednesday's League Cup fourth round clash against Crystal Palace with the groin problem that forced him off during last week's Champions League win in Frankfurt and out of Saturday's dismal 3-2 Premier League reverse at Brentford.

And even when the Sweden international is back available, former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey believes Ekitike should be the man in possession up front.

Heskey

"He was going to be annoyed that he was sitting on the bench, because when he came I think he was the one who hit the ground running, who looked exciting,"

"He’s scored goals, he’s created chances, he’s been a pest, and that’s what most forwards should be. Forwards should be a pest to their defenders, and he’s been that.

“He’s been left on the bench. You can call it rested, you can call it rotated, but as a 23-year-old you don’t believe in rotation. You believe in playing games."

Of Isak, Heskey added

"When you are not scoring goals, you need to still contribute to games. The fundamental thing you can do is work hard, run around and frustrate defenders. The defence starts at the front.

"I was told this at Leicester, I was told this at Liverpool, because they had the best defender who played up front - Ian Rush.

“And he was just a menace to defenders. Fundamentally you have to get that right, and everything else will follow.”

"It looks like his fitness is not quite where it should be. It looks like he’s huffing and puffing a bit, so he just needs to get his fitness up a bit to put in the graft that is needed at the highest level."

Former Manchester United forward Louis Saha is in agreement over Ekitike.

Saha said: "Arne Slot has to bring his big signings to top form in some way because Hugo Ekitike is a big talent, what he's doing is great.

“He's showing character. So he has to keep his head up, keep working hard, and at some point, he will be rewarded.

“There is no doubt that with his character, his mentality, positivity, and all that, his quality will definitely shine.”

“This is the type of thing I really like about this player because you can see that he's always playing flair football, attacking and passing when a better pass for another player is on.

“He's picking these passes, and at some point, he will be rewarded as he started really well on his journey in the Premier League, which is not easy, especially going to a team that has been champions.”

Liverpool have now lost five of their last six games and four Premier League games in a row, matching the entire total for their title-winning campaign last season.

And asked if there was a crisis at Liverpool,

Heskey added: "We don’t like to use that word, but what other word can you use?

"We’ve never seen anything like this at Liverpool for a long time. How do Liverpool turn it around? How do Liverpool pick themselves up and go again?

"They need to create more chances. They’re creating some, but not on the scale they were last season. Then they need to be really clinical to finish those chances as well."

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