Speaking on the Last Word on Spurs YouTube channel, Sky Sports journalist Lyall Thomas has been speaking about Hugo Ekitike and what he’s been hearing from scouts and recruitment experts about the young striker.
Ekitike has emerged as a transfer target for Newcastle, but those within the game can’t quite believe how much the Magpies are willing to spend on the teenager.
A £30m fee has been touted, and, according to Thomas, recruitment experts who have looked into this young man value him at around half that amount.
What’s been said about Ekitike?
Thomas shared what he knows about the striker and these rumours.
“In scouting circles, if you speak to scouts in the last six months a number of them have said to me ‘you have to look at this guy Ekitike, have a look at what he’s done.’ I’ve been watching him, he’s very talented, only made his debut in August,” Thomas said.
“Newcastle are trying to sign him, we reported it yesterday, it was one that a number of us at Sky worked on yesterday, and I know Newcastle are in the process of signing Chris Wood, but we think they’ll sign two forwards this window, so Ekitike is still on the table for them.
“I should have said at the beginning, Newcastle’s impact on the window is interesting. Because they have a lot of money and people know that, I don’t want to call it a Newcastle tax, but clubs have been thinking about pushing them as far as they’ll go.
“Ekitike, we’re talking about £30m potentially more than that for this guy who made his debut in August. Speak to scouts and recruitment guys at the clubs about this and most of them are pretty astonished that that’s the figure we’re talking about with this guy. He’s probably, in a normal market, a £15/16m player, but we’re talking about £30m here.”
Newcastle tax
Thomas didn’t want to call it a Newcastle tax, but that’s exactly what this is.
Every club knows just how rich Newcastle are, and they also know just how desperate the Magpies are to bring in new players.
£30m is a massive amount for a player who is largely unproven, but when you’re backed by multi-billionaires, it doesn’t really matter.
It remains to be seen whether or not Newcastle sign Ekitike, but they could end up overpaying if they do.
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