Hugo Ekitike has loved a terrific begin to his Liverpool profession, excluding the pointless purple card that he picked up within the Carabao Cup win over Southampton final month.
After becoming a member of from Eintracht Frankfurt for an preliminary £69m deal in July (The Unbiased), the Frenchman wanted solely eight matches to achieve 5 targets for the Reds, the latest of which was his late winner in opposition to the Saints three weeks in the past.
Sadly, in eradicating his shirt to have a good time that aim, he was proven a second yellow card by Tom Bramall and duly missed the 2-1 Premier League defeat to Crystal Palace the next Saturday via suspension.
Ekitike was hammered by some pundits over his indiscretion in opposition to Southampton, with Chris Sutton labelling it an act of ‘sheer stupidity‘, however the 23-year-old hasn’t gone down in his teammates’ estimation due to that incident.
Ekitike stays a ‘common determine’ amongst Liverpool teammates
In a Q&A for The Athletic, James Pearce was requested by one reader if that ‘egocentric celebration’ from the striker ‘had an influence within the altering room’ at Anfield.
The journalist replied: “No, I don’t imagine so. He apologised to his team-mates, it was accepted and so they all moved on. He’s a well-liked determine who made a foolish mistake.
“Hugo Ekitike has been the choose of the summer time signings to date, and he massively appreciates the bond he has rapidly established with the supporters. On that night time he received overly excited after getting the winner, utterly forgot he had already been booked and paid the value with that one-match ban. No one nonetheless holds it in opposition to him.”
Ekitike has been terrific, apart from that foolish purple card
Though Slot branded the motion as ‘silly‘ on the time, he subsequently confirmed that – opposite to what some reviews had speculated – the 23-year-old wasn’t fined over that purple card and had issued a honest apology to his teammates.
That was successfully the top of the matter so far as the Liverpool squad and training workers have been involved, and it doesn’t change the reality that Ekitike has had an incredible influence since becoming a member of the Reds in the summertime.
With out his targets, the champions could be 4 factors worse off within the Premier League, which’d at present go away them in eighth place and with a five-point hole to leaders Arsenal.
The Frenchman was badly missed within the defeat to Palace, which triggered the present three-match dropping streak and has represented an undesirable turning level in our season, however his total contribution at Anfield to date has been wonderful.
If Ekitike have been to bag the profitable aim in opposition to Manchester United on Sunday, his reputation on the Kop – which is already fairly excessive – would soar to a a lot larger stage!
You’ll be able to watch Slot’s post-Chelsea press convention by way of Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
