Wolverhampton Wanderers have joined the race to sign Reims striker Hugo Ekitike – but he’s nearing a move to Newcastle United instead.
The Telegraph report that Wolves boss Bruno Lage has been given the green light to sign a young striker.
That’s despite the major fee spent on Fabio Silva in 2020 and he hasn’t yet realised his potential at Molineux.
One of the targets for Wolves is Reims star Ekitike having been scouting the French wonderkid in recent times.
Yet if Wolves were hoping to thrash out a deal for Ekitike, it seems that their hopes are quickly dwindling.
That’s because 90Min claim that Newcastle United are actually ‘close’ to a deal with Reims to sign Ekitike.
Newcastle came close to signing Ekitike in January but the striker allegedly rejected the move.
It’s now suggested that Newcastle are nearing a £30million agreement to bring Ekitike to St James’ Park once and for all.
The report notes that Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and West Ham United are also keen on Ekitike, alongside Wolves.
However it’s Newcastle who look set to snap Ekitike up, adding him to Chris Wood and Callum Wilson in Eddie Howe’s attack.
Ekitike, 19, has burst onto the scene this season, scoring nine goals in 22 appearances for Reims this season.
Reims boss Oscar Garcia has hailed Ekitike was ‘very special’ whilst there have been comparisons to Kylian Mbappe, Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet.
Ekitike is very raw though. It’s not all that long ago that he was on loan at Danish side Velje, so this rise has been astonishing.
£30million on Ekitike is a gamble, but Newcastle will hope the potential and the comparisons ring true over the coming years.
This means Wolves will now have to look elsewhere for a new striker, with Valencia attacker Goncalo Guedes on the radar.
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