“He didn’t play for six months at PSG. We are taking our time, there is no need to sound the alarm. We are banking on him in the future.”. This is what Markus Krösche, sporting director of Eintracht Frankfurt, recently said when asked about the situation of his striker, Hugo Ekitike. Silent in front of goal since his arrival on February 1 at the Eagles, the former Stade de Reims scorer finally put an end to this long drought during the 30th day of the Bundesliga against Augsburg on Friday evening. Author of his team’s second goal, the player on loan from PSG was one of the great architects of a precious success (3-1) in an important match for the European places.
The goal of deliverance?
Now sixth in the German championship, the club coached by Dino Toppmöller finds itself provisionally qualified for the next Europa Conference League, relegating Augsburg, seventh, six points behind. While his team was hanging on shortly before the hour mark, the Rémois offered himself a nice slalom in the area before deceiving the opposing goalkeeper with a cross shot into the small left net. As a reminder, before this goal, the French striker had only delivered a small assist against VfL Wolfsburg (2-2) on February 25. A starving performance which had also earned him an unflattering nickname in the German press.
Concerned by the lack of success of the man who has been alternating for several matches between a place in the starting eleven and entries at the end of the match, Bild had nicknamed him “Mister zero goals”. A nickname which had the merit of prickling the person concerned. Established for only the third time by his coach on Friday evening against Augsburg, Ekitike therefore found the net, more than fifteen months after his last goal, against Angers, on January 11, 2023. A sigh of relief for the right-hander of 1m89, orphan of the slightest achievement during his first 11 matches with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Frankfurt trusts him
“Hello Eintracht fans, it’s Hugo, I’m very happy with this victory and my first goal today. The best is coming now and I hope to score many more goals in this magnificent stadium.”declared the number 11 of the Eagles a few seconds after the final whistle before returning to his first goal.“When the ball came back, I already knew what I wanted to do to score! So I got the ball, chose my trajectory accordingly and took it in. I am just satisfied and happy”. Under contract until June 2027 with Paris Saint-Germain, Ekitike can now see a bright future across the Rhine.
Liberated by this first achievement, the 21-year-old player will, for this, have to find certain regularity between now and the end of the season. In the meantime and despite these contrasting starts, Eintracht could, for their part, trust him in the longer term. Lately, The Team specified, in this respect, that the German team would like to exercise the purchase option of 16.5 million euros excluding bonus which depended on a certain number of matches played (50% matches played, 6 starts) and that the ‘attacker will reach. Taking advantage, moreover, of the long injury of Sasa Kalajdzic, another winter recruit, Ekitike has in any case the perfect context to establish his status on the Frankfurt side.
“Hugo has certain skills that cannot be taught. He is incredibly professional, focused and ambitious. As a person, he is sociable, humble and fits well into the group. These are conditions that are crucial. You don’t make transfer decisions based on short-term performance, the first five or six weeks.”had also added Markus Krösche, the sporting director of the winner of the 2022 Europa League. On his momentum and ready to do anything to be awarded a more laudatory nickname on the side of Deutsche Bank Park, Hugo Ekitike will, before that, have a new opportunity to shine against Bayern Munich next weekend.
