GOAL's resident renowned Liverpool team correspodent Neil Jones, exclusively broke the news on Tuesday that Eintracht Frankfurt's France international forward Hugo Ekitike is about to join Liverpool.

According to Jones' report, Liverpool has agreed to pay Frankfurt a transfer fee of up to £85 million to sign Ekitike, of which £69 million is the initial fee and £10 million are potential additional fees.

If Ekitike wins the highest personal honour such as the Ballon d'Or during his time at Liverpool, Liverpool will also pay Die Adler another £5 million of potential bonus clauses.

Once the potential additional fees are triggered, Ekitike will break Darwin Núñez's record and become the Reds' most expensive forward in the club's history.

Even if those potential additional fees are not triggered, Ekitike has already confirmed to become the fifth most expensive player in Liverpool's club history after Florian Wirtz, Virgil van Dijk, Darwin Núñez and Alisson.

Currently, Ekitike and his agent have flown to London for the first phase of his medical. It is expected that all medical examinations and contract signing procedures will be completed within two days. The two parties are expected to sign a long-term 6-year deal which runs until the summer of 2031.

After completing his joining procedures, Ekitike will fly directly to Hong Kong to meet Liverpool and participate in the pre-season friendly match. At that time, Ekitike is expected to be officially announced as a new Liverpool player in front of Hong Kong fans.

At the same time, his friend, Sky Sports' renowned Italian transfer journalist resident Fabrizio Romano has also confirmed the matter.

Romano revealed that at the time of writing, Ekitike may have even completed all the main part of his medical. Unless something unexpected happens at the last minute, the transfer can basically be considered as finalized.

He said that since meeting with Sports Director Richard Hughes, Ekitike has firmly told Frankfurt that he will not transfer except to Liverpool, so the player's tough stance has facilitated the transfer.

At the same time, after learning of Ekitike's position, Newcastle United, who had been competing fiercely with the Reds to sign him, had no choice but to give up.

About Hugo Ekitike

Hugo Ekitike, 23, was born in Reims, France on June 20, 2002. He is 1.9 meters tall and plays as a striker. He has dual nationality of France and Cameroon.

Ekitike played for the youth academy of the non-league club Cormontreuil when he was a child. In 2013, he joined the youth academy of his hometown club Reims and made his debut Reims first-team debut by coming on as a substitute in October 2020.

In January of the following year, Ekitike was loaned-out to Vejle.

After returning to the club following the end of his loan spell in the summer of the same year, Ekitike quickly attracted the attention of Newcastle United with his high scoring efficiency.

In July 2022, Ekitike joined Paris Saint-Germain on-loan with a obligation to buy for €35 million. During which, he won the Ligue 1 once with the club.

On the 2024 winter transfer window's deadline day, Ekitike joined Eintracht Frankfurt on-loan with an option to buy, and his ownership was officially bought out two months later.

Since becoming a member of Die Adler, Ekitike has played 64 times for the Bundesliga side in all competitions, scoring 26 goals, providing 14 assists and has reached the DFB-Pokal round of 16s twice and the Europa League quarter-finals once with the club.