‘I don’t think so’: Julien Laurens now says £69m Liverpool star would have signed for Newcastle United had he known truth.
Life is full of those sliding doors moments, those ‘what if?’ decisions, and it seems that one player linked with Newcastle United in the summer may be considering his ‘what if?’ moment already.
Yesterday, we spoke about whether James Trafford feels he made the wrong decision when opting to return to Manchester City over Newcastle, given that Pep Guardiola went out and signed Gianluigi Donnarumma just weeks later.
The likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko are getting regular football at Manchester United, but are they regretting their move now, seeing that the club hasn’t moved on from the depths of despair they found themselves in last season?
Now, French football expert Julien Laurens has been speaking about Hugo Ekitike on BBC Radio 5 Live and has suggested that the France star may have made a different decision in the summer had he had all the information.
Hugo Ekitike wouldn’t have joined Liverpool if he’d known Alexander Isak was coming
Liverpool swooped for Hugo Ekitike in what felt like a petty move to block Newcastle from getting their primary striker target because they wouldn’t sell Alexander Isak. In truth, had Newcastle signed Ekitike, the transfer of Alexander Isak would probably have been wrapped up much sooner.
Laurens has now suggested that Ekitike wasn’t told that Isak would be following him to Anfield, and if they’d told him that, he’d likely have chosen Newcastle, as he was asked if Ekitike would have gone had he known.
“I really don’t think so, no. He signed after a first approach from Liverpool to Newcastle for Isak, when they closed the door.
“That was before Isak went on strike and stopped training with them and then Liverpool reverted to Ekitike, who was on his way to Newcastle because he was supposed to be the replacement, or to play together if nobody came for Isak.
“We knew that as soon as Isak was fit that the one to be dropped was Ekitike. It was just very clear. Can they play together? Of course they can. You could play Ekitike from the start but off the left, but that’s not really his position.
“It was just one of Ekitike and Isak [in the team] and it was never going to be Ekitike over Isak if Isak was fit.”
Hugo Ekitike has rejected Newcastle twice
That’s twice now that Ekitike has rejected Newcastle to move elsewhere, only for it to blow up in his face.
That being said, Ekitike has got off to an excellent start at Liverpool, and his form could keep Isak out of the side if that’s how Arne Slot chooses to pick his team rather than transfer value.
With one goal in one game, though, it’s hard to be upset that we landed Nick Woltemade. Only time will tell whether things worked out for the best for all involved.
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