Liverpool agreed a fixed reimbursement of £ 69 million (€ 80 million) with Eintracht Frankfurt for Hugo Ekitike, with conversations that continue on Sunday about the bonuses in the deal.
Sky Sports News understands that the total package in the offer can rise to £ 78 million (€ 90 million), but conversations are about the structure of the add-ons.
Both parties are confident to reach a full agreement, but there is still work to complete it.
Earlier this week, Liverpool made their step for Ekitike after he has been told that Newcastle's Alexander Isak is not for sale.
Ekitike is open for a Premier League relocation and Liverpool would be his favorite destination after Newcastle had rejected an offer.
The 23-year-old was an unused replacement during the pre-season match on his side against FSV Frankfurt on Saturday. After the game, Frankfurt Boss, quoted by Sky Germany, said that the potential departure of Ekitike is “a bitter loss”.
Ekitike scored 22 goals in 48 games in all matches last season for Frankfurt when he helped them to be eligible for the Champions League.
Ekitike ready for the next step after breakthrough of Bundesliga
Sky Sports' Adam Bate:
When Hugo Ekitike was still a teenager at Stade Reims, the coaching staff prepared a development plan for him. They analyzed the performance of Kylian Mbappe and then chose two more players from that Ekitike could realistically replicate.
“These were players with similar profiles of teams that were better than our team, but not at the distance Paris Saint-Germain were ours,” Oscar Garcia, the then head coach of Reims, told Sky Sports. “We challenged him to reach the level of the other two strikers.”
At first glance, that was a completely reasonable goal in the short term. Prior to his last season at Reims, Ekitike had not even scored a goal in the top layer of France. He had spent the second half of the previous campaign on loan at the Danish club Vejle Boldklub.
He returned to Reims as the fourth choice, but soon forced Oscar to review. Shortly thereafter were the two strikers whose level he was encouraged to hit no longer in his sights. “Within a few months he wanted to reach the same level as Mbappe.”
It is a story that offers a look at the mindset of the Eintracht Frankfurt, which has long been associated with a switch to the Premier League.
“He was always a talented player, but some coaches didn't like him because of his profile and sometimes because of his character,” Oscar admits. “They thought he was a bit arrogant. He always wanted to be compared to the best.”