{"id":196263,"date":"2025-06-19T04:54:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T04:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196263\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T04:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T04:54:12","slug":"85m-striker-could-become-man-utds-biggest-summer-signing-18-months-after-missing-out-on-old-trafford-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196263\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a385m striker could become Man Utd’s biggest summer signing, 18 months after missing out on Old Trafford move"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manchester United are now in the race to sign Hugo Ektitike just 18 months after dodging a move for the striker.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rasmus Hojlund only joined Manchester United<\/a> two years ago, but the striker now finds himself under major pressure.<\/p>\n

The Dane only scored four Premier League goals last season and looked completely bereft of confidence by the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Joshua Zirkzee looked more impressive as a number 10 last season, so United may need to add another striker this summer.<\/p>\n

Chelsea have beaten United to Liam Delap\u2019s signature<\/a> and the drama surrounding Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres continues<\/a> amid interest from Ruben Amorim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

United may need to explore other targets in attack and Eintracht Frankfurt\u2019s Hugo Ekitike is emerging as a real option.<\/p>\n

\"HugoPhoto by Ulrik Pedersen\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesManchester United snubbed Hugo Ekitike in 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reports last week suggested United had made contact to sign Ekitike<\/a> from Eintracht in a potentially huge move.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman won\u2019t come cheap and reports suggest Eintracht are seeking a fee of around \u00a385million for Ekitike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

United were impressed with Ekitike last season as he hit 15 Bundesliga goals in 33 appearances for Eintracht.<\/p>\n

Tall, fast and rangy, Ekitike is incredibly skilful and merely scratching the surface of his potential right now.<\/p>\n

The fee required for Ekitike would likely make him United\u2019s biggest signing of the summer, despite turning down the chance to sign him in 2024.<\/p>\n

As noted by Absolut Fussball<\/a> in Germany, Paris Saint-Germain offered Ekitike to United before the transfer deadline in January 2024.<\/p>\n

However, United and Erik ten Hag turned down the chance to take Ekitike, paving the way for him to join Eintracht in a bargain move.<\/p>\n

Ekitike was available on loan with a view to a permanent deal, which eventually cost Eintracht just \u20ac16.5million (\u00a314million), as noted by BBC Sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fast forward just 18 months and Ekitike will now cost around six times that price tag, if Eintracht stick to their demands.<\/p>\n

United did not seize the chance to sign Ekitike in 2024 and now face paying a premium to finally bring him to Old Trafford and boost Amorim\u2019s attacking options.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Hugo Ekitike has bounced back from Paris Saint-Germain frustration<\/strong><\/p>\n

In United\u2019s defence, Ekitike had struggled with PSG.<\/p>\n

After joining on loan from Reims in 2022, Ekitike completed a permanent move to stay in the French capital.<\/p>\n

Ekitike managed just three league goals in his first season and was completely frozen out by PSG after Randal Kolo Muani\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

When United were called to weigh up a move for Ekitike, the striker had gone five months without a single first-team game.<\/p>\n

United may have felt that Ekitike just wouldn\u2019t have the time to get up to speed and make himself a force in the final months of United\u2019s 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

Ekitike scored four times in 14 league games on loan for Eintracht, convincing them to invest in his potential for the future.<\/p>\n

Just a year on, Eintracht are commanding an enormous profit having also made big money on Omar Marmoush and the aforementioned Kolo Muani in recent times.<\/p>\n

Ekitike deserves huge praise for bouncing back after his disappointing spell with PSG, and now looks to be better-prepared to shine for United having benefited from development in Germany.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United are now in the race to sign Hugo Ektitike just 18 months after dodging a move…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,5759,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-hugo-ekitike","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114708248379950065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}