€80m forward confirms he’s the ONE to replace Darwin Nunez

Darwin Nunez's time at Liverpool is up and it's obvious who will replace him.

The Uruguayan has never quite got going at Anfield. Despite all the hype and excitement that surrounded his arrival, he's been a disappointment.

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Under Arne Slot he has also fallen out of favour. Despite Liverpool deciding to keep him in January it's quite clear Nunez will be allowed to leave in the summer transfer window.

Anfield Watch revealed exclusively that he is expected to be among a number of high profile departures at the club this summer.

But if he leaves the question will have to be answered about who will replace him, and it's a very intriguing question because there are a lot of candidates.

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One though, just simply stands out from the rest.

What will Arne Slot be looking for in his new no.9?

First of all, it's important to establish the profile that Slot wants when assessing who Liverpool could bring in.

Slot likes hard-workers, players who cover a lot of ground and put in a lot of work out of possession.

He also obviously values goal-scoring forwards but similarly to Jurgen Klopp, he likes them to be a bit more hybrid and fluid in their movement - not just simply poachers.

Speaking in his press conference ahead of the Reds' clash against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, Slot was asked about the type of attacker he likes to have in his team, and whether he wants more of a 'facilitator' rather than a goalscorer.

“I will be happy if that player becomes both,” Slot said.

“‘Facilitator’, nice word, I didn’t know that one yet, and scoring goals himself – that is, again, what we want to achieve in the end.

“But I also saw the penalty (at Bournemouth) from Cody [Gakpo] where Lucho [Luis Diaz] played a part without even touching the ball.

“He dragged the centre-back out which led to Cody being in a one-vs-one and he made a deep run and got tripped.

“In the end you want attackers and midfielders to score, we’ve spoken about our attacking midfielder as well.

“We need to get goals from many positions, including them and including centre-backs that can score from set-pieces also.

“So, that’s what I just said, we are trying to work on the training ground and with the feedback we give them after the game to make team better and better and better and in the end, the No. 9 should be a facilitator, like a winger, but a winger and a No. 9 should also score goals.”

This gives us a sense of the type of player Slot will be eyeing up. It's a player who will create chances as well as being a prolific scorer and who will also be able to drift out wide and open up spaces for his other teammates to run into the box.

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Why Hugo Ekitike's numbers confirm he is the perfect choice

Looking at Bundesliga statistics, Ekitike has covered 209 kilometres for Eintracht Frankfurt this season. That's over 11 kilometres per 90 minutes that he has played.

So immediately the French striker ticks a fundamental box. He is full of bundles of energy and covers a lot of ground both on and off the ball.

He's extremely fast and athletic. As per Bundesliga statistics, he ranks in the top five forwards for top speed (35.53km/h).

That intensity would be tailor made for Slot's football but there is even more to Ekitike's numbers that further prove why he's the perfect choice.

First of all, he's a massive goal threat. No one has taken more shots than him in the Bundesliga (81) and he has the second highest xG (16.2) merely fractionally behind Hary Kane (16.3) who is the leader in the metric.

So, it's fair to say Ekitike has the goal-scorer part ticked off. In total he has 18 goals in all competitions and there will be more goals for him from now until the end of the season.

It's also important to focus on the other part of Slot's description. He made it clear he doesn't want a striker who just scores goals. He wants a facilitator, who can create chances and draw out opposition attackers and be more hybrid.

We know Ekitike can do this because he did it during the first half of the season. When Omar Marmoush was in the side, Ekitike often drifted wide and played on the left flank.

His technical qualities combined with his speed means, he is more than capable of playing in that role, too. As per FBref he completes 2.00 take-ons per 90 in all competitions this season.

To put that into perspective, only Luis Diaz (2.11 per 90) has completed more take-ons than Ekitike for Liverpool this season. Gakpo completes 1.64 and Salah 1.58 per 90 minutes.

So, in theory, Ekitike would definitely suit Slot's description of those runs out to the wing and being a threat in that sense.

This is backed up by the creative numbers as well. Among Bundesliga forwards Ekitike ranks in the top 10 forwards for expected assists (3.6).

Ekitike's 3.67 shot-creating-actions in all competitions per 90 minutes for Frankfurt would rank him higher than Alexander-Arnold (3.61) in the Liverpool team.

Based on the numbers available it's hard to overlook Ekitike as the perfect option for Liverpool.

It has been reported that Frankfurt would be open to selling him for €80m, which would honestly be a bargain price considering the Reds are hoping to make more through the sale of Nunez.

Ekitike is someone who has been on Liverpool's recruitment's radar for a long time. He was linked with the Reds back when he broke onto the scene at Reims and it's likely the club have been monitoring his progress this season, too.

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At 22 years old, the sky is the limit for him and there is no question about it he is simply the ONE to replace Nunez.

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