Manchester United have entered the race for Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike, according to Sky Germany.
Liverpool and Chelsea are also thought to be interested in the 22-year-old, who has four years left on his deal.
It is understood United are exploring the conditions of a potential deal for Ekitike with Frankfurt demanding around £85m (€100m).
United are in the market for a striker after the arrival of Wolves’ Matheus Cunha and the potential signing of Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford.
Sky Sports News has reported Viktor Gyokeres is one of the players they like for that position and they have explored a deal for the Sporting striker through intermediaries.
How do Ekitike and Gyokeres compare?
Ekitike ready for the next step after Bundesliga breakthrough
Sky Sports’ Adam Bate:
When Hugo Ekitike was still a teenager at Stade Reims, the coaching staff prepared a development plan for him. They analysed the performances of Kylian Mbappe and then picked out two more players that Ekitike might realistically aspire to replicate.
“These were players with similar profiles from teams that were better than our team, but not at the distance Paris Saint-Germain were from us,” Oscar Garcia, Reims’ then head coach, told Sky Sports. “We challenged him to reach the level of the other two strikers.”
On the face of it, that was a perfectly reasonable short-term target. Prior to his final season at Reims, Ekitike had not even scored a goal in France’s top tier. He had spent the second half of the previous campaign on loan at Danish club Vejle Boldklub.
He returned to Reims as the fourth-choice forward but soon forced Oscar to reassess. Soon after that, the two strikers whose level he had been encouraged to hit were no longer in his sights. “Within months, he wanted to reach the same level as Mbappe.”
It is a tale that offers a glimpse into the mindset of the Eintracht Frankfurt forward who has long been linked with a move to the Premier League. In the past it was Newcastle. Now it is Chelsea and Liverpool considered among the next landing destinations.
“He always was a talented player but some coaches did not like him because of his profile and sometimes because of his character,” concedes Oscar. “They were thinking he was a little bit arrogant. He always wanted to be compared with the best ones.”
Read more about Hugo Ekitike’s rise
United make initial approach for Gyokeres
Man Utd head coach Ruben Amorim is a big admirer of Gyokeres having managed him at Sporting.
Gyokeres has a gentleman’s agreement to leave Sporting this summer for offers above £58m (€70m) despite a release clause of around £84m (€100m).
Gyokeres scored 54 goals in 52 games this past season for the Portuguese champions, including a hat-trick against Manchester City in the Champions League, having scored 43 in 50 in the 2023/24 campaign.
United are in the market for a striker regardless of Rasmus Hojlund’s future. Although the Denmark international has said he is not considering leaving the club and will fight for his place next season, United are looking at a number of players in that position.
Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres
However, a big focus at United will be on departures too, with offers expected for the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony.
The preference is to agree to permanent sales for those players, however loan deals cannot be ruled out. There has been plenty of interest – but as yet, no formal offers.
Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from next season
From next season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games next season are on Sky Sports.
