Ahead of the 2025/2026 season, all eyes will be on Liverpool’s defence of their Premier League crown and how both Manchester City and Arsenal will try to usurp Arne Slot’s side.
While Pep Guardiola will be delighted with City’s signings of Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Marcus Bettinelli, if Alexander Isak joins Liverpool, the Reds might become impossible to compete with having already signed Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.
However, Fabrizio Romano has now reported that Hugo Ekitike has “said yes” to a move to Anfield, who was their alternative to Isak.
Arne Slot claimed Manchester City remain a top side and as a result, it seems like the Premier League champions are doing everything in their power to beat them to the title in successive seasons.
If Liverpool sign Hugo Ekitike, Omar Marmoush to Man City would still be the better move
However, it could be argued that even if Liverpool were to sign Ekitike, Manchester City may have signed the better player from Eintracht Frankfurt in Omar Marmoush.
One key reason behind that being the case is because Liverpool tried to sign Marmoush but they missed out on his signature to City, signalling the Egyptian initially caught their eye instead of Ekitike.
Furthermore, when comparing both players’ respective goal contributions last season, the Manchester City forward amassed 45 goal involvements (28 goals and 17 assists) while the Frenchman registered 34 (22 goals and 12 assists).
Even before his move to the Etihad Stadium, Marmoush had the same number of goal involvements as Ekitike (34, 20 goals and 14 assists) — which is proof that he was outperforming his teammate in the same Frankfurt side.
Furthermore, unlike the former Paris Saint-Germain goalscorer, the Cairo-born attacker has shown that he is proven in England, with eight goals and three assists to his name in 20 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side.
| OMAR MARMOUSH’S STATS AT MAN CITY | |
| APPEARANCES | 20 |
| GOALS | 8 |
| ASSISTS | 3 |
The 26-year-old has managed to impress his teammates during his short spell, with Matheus Nunes raving about Marmoush’s displays at Manchester City so far.
Considering Manchester City signed Marmoush for £59 million, the fact that Liverpool may have to pay €90 million (£77.8 million), as per RMC Sport exemplifies that the Sky Blues’ deal looks superior.
Eintracht Frankfurt’s history of selling strikers could be bad news for Liverpool
Furthermore, Eintracht Frankfurt have a track record of selling strikers for big money who have underwhelmed at other clubs.
Randal Kolo Muani, who Frankfurt sold to PSG for the same €90 million (£77.8 million) fee as Ekitike underwhelmed in the French capital, which meant that Luis Enrique’s side had no choice but to loan him out to Juventus in January.
Similarly, both Sebastian Haller and Luka Jovic had forgettable spells at West Ham United and Real Madrid respectively.
The history shows it could repeat itself and Ekitike signs for Liverpool and has the same fate as some of his predecessors, Manchester City’s early move to sign Marmoush could look like a masterstroke.
