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€80m offer incoming?
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Newcastle certainly aren't messing around this summer. After striking a deal to bring Nottingham Forest winger Anthony Elanga to the club for €61.4 million, the St James' Park side are reportedly now looking to add to that with an astronomical offer for Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitiké . According to the BBC , a move for the 23-year-old talent would likely require a transfer fee higher than €80m - which would make the striker Newcastle's record transfer, surpassing the €70m spent to sign Alexander Isak in 2022. But even if Newcastle could pull off such an audacious move, how exactly would Ekitiké fit into Eddie Howe's team this season?
Could Ekitiké play up front with Isak?
While Ekitiké is widely regarded as a No.9 in a sport that often prefers to play one striker up front in most teams, it's worth noting that the French forward can play in a strike partnership. Prior to Omar Marmoush moving to Manchester City in January, the Egyptian talent played alongside Ekitiké to devastating effect for Frankfurt. Alongside his excellent goal-scoring talents, Ekitiké is also very mobile off the ball and happy to chase down defenders and run with the ball into space. Which certainly explains why he has 14 assists in 64 games for Frankfurt, alongside his decent goalscoring record.
That means that Ekitiké could play off Isak as a second striker, allowing Howe to perhaps play a classic 4-4-2, with Elanga and Anthony Gordon on either wing and the dynamic midfield duo of Bruno Guimarães and Sandro Tonali in the middle of the pitch. In practice, it would likely play more like a 4-2-3-1, with Ekitiké drifting into the pockets of space in the final third and trying to play off Isak. Which may prove to be the best way to accommodate all of Newcastle's star players in one formation, while still maintaining a solid balance between attack and defense.
How Howe could change his formation to accommodate Ekitiké
Of course, there's no reason why Howe would need to stick with a traditional 4-4-2. Although Newcastle largely played with a back four last season, Howe did experiment with a back three in a number of games. In these instances, the Newcastle boss often turned to wingers like Jacob Murphy to play a more industrial role on the wing and he could certainly do that next season with Gordon and Elanga. While Gordon is a more traditional winger, his tenacity off the ball is excellent and new signing Elanga has played as a right-sided wing-back in the past.
This would then allow Howe to bring Joelinton into the starting XI and stick with his fantastic midfield trio of the aforementioned Brazilian, Tonali and Guimarães, while also providing a more solid defensive formation of three central defenders. But perhaps more importantly, it would then leave Isak and Ekitiké the freedom to both play as classic center forwards in a more typical striker partnership next season.
Is Ekitiké the replacement for Isak?
The other way that Ekitiké could fit into Newcastle's team next season is the one that fans of the club feared the most. While the Frenchman can of course play alongside his Swedish counterpart, many fans also worry that Ekitiké may be seen as a long-term successor to Isak if the talisman is in fact sold this summer. Reports in England have so far suggested that Isak is not for sale and wouldn't need to be sold to compensate for Ekitiké's sizable transfer fee, but the narrow margins by which Newcastle have avoided breaking the Premier League's PSR rules would suggest otherwise. And on Tuesday the Athletic reported that Liverpool had shown an interest in signing the 25-year-old this summer.
If the worst fears of Newcastle fans were ultimately realized, they could at least take solace from the fact that Ekitiké is very well equipped to replace Isak in Howe's side. As a lone striker for Frankfurt last season, Ekitiké had all the speed, strength and tenacity to lead the line and be an excellent penalty-box talisman. In many ways, his best position on the pitch is the one that Isak currently plays for Newcastle and as such he may be the perfect replacement for Newcastle's star striker.
