Newcastle’s €80m bid for Hugo Ekitike rejected – Sky Germany explain why

A major update on Newcastle United’s bid to sign Hugo Ekitike has arrived on Tuesday lunch time.

Last night, ESPN claimed that Newcastle were ‘on the verge’ of finalising a deal worth €80m (£69.5m) for the Frenchman, with super agent Ali Barat working on the final details to push through a transfer.

However, in an update from Sky Germany this afternoon, it seems the terms of this €80m package aren’t quite right for Eintracht Frankfurt.

In an exclusive posted on X, Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg reports that our €80m ‘written offer’ has been rejected by the Bundesliga side, ‘mainly due to the payment terms.’

The full details are not clear, but this strongly suggests that the structure of payments may not be appealing to Frankfurt, who may be demanding a greater up front sum, for example.

Plettenberg adds that their sporting director, Markus Krösche, ‘wants more’ for the 23-year-old, also stating ‘there are clubs who have already signalled they would be willing to pay more.’

That last line is a suspicious one. If rival clubs are ‘willing to pay more’, why aren’t they? This could be a message Frankfurt are pushing to the German media and to extract more out of Newcastle and potential scare tactic, to make us believe we’re at risk of missing out.

Or perhaps it is true and other interested parties will soon enter the race and spark a bidding war?

Who knows, but speed could now be key for Newcastle, who would be wise to negotiate a structure of payments that works for all parties so we don’t miss out on our man for the third time in three years.

Alexander Isak scored in both appearances against Liverpool last season, and head coach Arne Slot struggled to hide his admiration for the talented Newcastle striker

iverpool has made a formal approach to sign Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, which should come as no surprise given how head coach Arne Slot evaluated him last season.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Liverpool had contacted Newcastle to discuss a record bid for the 25-year-old striker. No bid has currently been made, and Newcastle has no intentions of selling its star player, but talks are ongoing.

Liverpool forwards Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez are linked with moves elsewhere, which could pave the way for the Reds to make a blockbuster offensive addition. Slot is one of many head coaches who admire Isak and saw his quality twice last season.

Last season, Liverpool and Newcastle couldn’t be separated. The first Premier League meeting on Dec. 4 ended in a stunning 3-3 draw, and Isak opened the scoring that day.

After the match, Slot praised Isak for his powerful strike: “That they are able to score a goal, that’s not a surprise for me, and especially the first one, what a finish that was. That shot from Isak, I don’t even know if Caoimh [Kelleher] saw that goal, as hard as it was.”

Liverpool then hosted Newcastle at Anfield on Feb. 26, as Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai scored in a 2-0 win. Although Isak didn’t play in that game, Slot was complimentary of the Swedish forward.

“It’s an understatement to say that he’s in fine form,” Slot said after preparing to face Isak. “I think he’s in excellent form. It’s the team performance which will help us control him.

“The more ball possession we have, the easier it is to control him. Although he’s definitely a threat on the counter-attack as well.

“The good thing for us is that we’ve got two centre-backs that are probably one of the best players that are able to play against him. We have two very, very good centre-backs and that’s definitely what you need if you face a striker with the quality of Alexander Isak.”

Liverpool’s final encounter with Newcastle was at Wembley Stadium on March 16, during the League Cup final. A late Federico Chiesa strike wasn’t enough to save Liverpool, as goals from Dan Burn and Isak handed Newcastle a memorable 2-1 victory.

It was Newcastle’s first major trophy since 1955, and a bitter blow for Liverpool as it also crashed out of the UEFA Champions League that week. Liverpool lost to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain, and Slot compared Isak to the forwards leading the French line.

“Looking at Newcastle, we played them twice,” Slot said before facing Newcastle in the League Cup final. “In the last game Isak wasn’t involved, in the first game he was involved.

“He is such an important player for them, he’s an unbelievable threat and has the speed that, for example, the attackers of Paris Saint-Germain had on Tuesday as well.”