Newcastle make opening bid for Hugo Ekitike - Fabrizio Romano

Tom Weber

Updated: 14 Jul 2025 19:31 BST
4 min read

Newcastle have submitted a bid for Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike, according to Fabrizio Romano.

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Despite boasting one of the Premier League's best strikers in Alexander Isak, the Magpies are looking to add another centre-forward following the departure of Callum Wilson.

Ekitike is a player who has been on Newcastle's radar for years, and they officially reignited their interest in him last week. The Frenchman is coming off a brilliant season at Eintracht Frankfurt and is widely expected to be on the move this summer.

Current ETV

Hugo Ekitiké

F (C)

E. Frankfurt

Hugo Ekitiké

F (C)

E. Frankfurt

ETV Range

€64M - €78.2M

Frankfurt, for their part, are not desperate to sell the 23-year-old, especially since they will be playing in the Champions League next term. As such, they have slapped a prohibitive €100 million price tag on Ekitike.

This asking price stunted the race for the Frenchman in recent weeks, with none of his suitors prepared to go that high. However, already last week, it emerged that something was brewing, with Frankfurt said to be expecting bids to come shortly.

Newcastle make Ekitike offer

As predicted, an offer has now arrived, with Fabrizio Romano reporting that Newcastle have made the first concrete move to sign Ekitike by placing a bid in excess of €70 million.

This is still some way short of Frankfurt's asking price, but there is a feeling that the Bundesliga side would accept a deal structured in a way in which their desired €100m figure could be reached via bonuses.

Intriguingly, Romano reports that an unnamed club already made a bid for Ekitike earlier this summer for a fee below what Newcastle have just put on the table.

Man Utd and Liverpool are also known to be keen on Ekitike, but the former are likely not in a position to get anywhere close to Frankfurt's asking price at the moment, while the latter want to offload Darwin Nunez before making a concrete move for a big-money forward.

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