TA: Liverpool thinks Haaland and Mbappe have more potential than Ekitic at the same age

September 12 TheAthletic published an article revealing the inside story of Liverpool's signing of Ekitic.

After the bad news of Jota's death on July 3, all clubs respectfully maintained a distance. All Liverpool-related people mourn the departure of the beloved colleague and friend, and the transfer activity was suspended.

The discussion on the transfer did not begin again until mid-month. Liverpool expressed his willingness to pay about £120 million when it first contacted Isaac, but Newcastle refused, who insisted that the Swedish striker was not a seller.

When Liverpool quickly turned to sign Newcastle target Ekitic from Frankfurt for £69m (up to £79m), some thought it was a stress response to Newcastle's blocking their pursuit of Isaac.

But the reality is that Liverpool wants both Ekitic and Isaac. Hughes has been in touch with the Ekitic team since January, and Slot also held talks with the players in May. They are not worried about Newcastle's interest because they know that the player's first choice is Anfield, and Manchester United has expressed interest in the player.

Ekitic scored 15 goals in the 2024-25 Bundesliga, with the actual number of goals scored 6.6 lower than expected. But the basic data provided by research director Will Spearman made Liverpool determined to take action, and the data shows that only Haaland and Mbappe showed higher potential than him at the same age.

Although he struggled with Paris Saint-Germain, Anfield executives believe this is similar to Coutinho's experience at Inter Milan and Heraffenberg's frustration at Bayern. They believe that Slot can help players break through the bottleneck.

Ekitic met with his new teammates for the first time in Hong Kong, China. The trip was full of variables. Louis Diaz said goodbye to his teammates during his Japanese station because Liverpool and Bayern reached an agreement on a transfer fee of £65.5 million. The Reds had previously rejected Bayern's offer of £58 million.

The popular Colombian player has just ushered in the best season of Liverpool's career, contributing 17 goals in various competitions. But with the contract only two years left and the proposal for renewal was refused twice, Diaz was eager to leave the team when the club was unwilling to meet its salary increase requirements. To his credit, he never missed any training before being allowed to fly to Munich.

Liverpool believes that the transfer fee is really hard to refuse. After all, Diaz will be 29 years old in January next year, and his old club Porto has not set a second share clause. Given the existence of Garkepo, who signed the new contract, the club never seriously considered introducing a replacement for Dias.

Liverpool regards Ekitic as a multi-functional attacker. He can be competent for the No. 9 position, second striker or left side. The club is not willing to hinder the development of the young player Ngumoya, who performed well in the preseason.