Liverpool faced Crystal Palace on Sunday at Wembley, Community Shield.
Alex Richards is a sports editor for Mirror Online and is responsible for editing news, features, website and reporter copies, and participating in matches.
He is Liverpool’s new £79 million centre forward, and while he may not be his first choice by the time the summer transfer window closes, Hugo Ekicchique made a big impression with his competitive debut at his new club at Wembley on Sunday.
Signed by Eintracht Frankfurt this summer, France Under 21 International didn’t take long to showcase his quality. He gave the guys from Arne Slot the perfect start with Crystal Palace, scoring within four minutes and was forced to finish early after a pre-match silence to Diogo Jota.
Ekitike, 23, smartly paired with fellow new boy Florian Wiltz at the edge of the palace’s penalty area, drifted from left to right foot, firing a thin, low effort into a corner far from 20 yards, as palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson grabbed the thin air. It was a strike reminiscent of Ekitique’s last end in the British soil for Frankfurt against the Spurs in the Europa League last season.
read more: Diogo Jota’s tribute was spoiled and forced to finish early before Liverpool vs Crystal Palaceread more: Liverpool thinks the transfer exit will be home with the new role of the forgotten man of £12 million
“This is a great goal,” said Ally McCoist, who talks about the commentary on TNT Sport. “When the ball is played by him, he thinks about the back heel, but decides against it.
“How to say hello to everyone.”
When he moved to celebrate, what came next was noticeable. The French set out towards the horn flag, and at first held out their arms and hands as if to say, “Sit down, I have this.”
Then, in the somewhat stern face, I mimicked the two-handed gestures. Without a doubt, he heard the noise about the Reds’ interest in Alexander Isaac, and this was his response.
“He celebrates using his hands as his mouth,” Glenn Murray told BBC Radio 5 Live. “There was a lot of noise about Alexander Isaac, but Ekitique blocks the noise and says, ‘I’m here!” ”
He officially smiled and received praise from his new teammates. He was all smiling when he received a pat in chat from Wirtz, and his links on Wembley were excellent overall.
Certainly, his 70-minute cameo in London showed that a 6-foot-3-inch advance would be an issue for Premier League centre-backs with a fusion of pace, smart moves and pure force. Not only that, he might have gone repeatedly into position to take off the shots and had a hat trick on another day.
And when he departed…well, Liverpool was not threatening, a bit limp on the offense, and eventually fell into a penalty shootout defeat.
But the plot surrounding Alexander Isaac, a Liverpool interest, is how willing he is to push Newcastle United this summer in his quest to land Swedish International. Newcastle stands on their ground and is planning to do the trick, simply destroying the British transfer record again.
But until that happens, Ekitique blocks the noise and shows that he has this.
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