Hugo Ekitike is Liverpool’s high scorer this season having signed from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summertime however there’s one space of his sport he and Arne Slot is aware of he should enhance on
Morgan King
16:22, 27 Feb 2026Updated 16:29, 27 Feb 2026
Hugo Ekitike is having fun with a effective first season at Liverpool however there are nonetheless areas of his sport that may be sharpened (Image: Serena Taylor, Newcastle United through Getty Images)
Hugo Ekitike has loved a promising first season within the crimson of Liverpool after finishing a summer time swap from Eintracht Frankfurt for an preliminary payment of £69million.
Earning comparisons to former star striker Fernando Torres for his deadly mix of tempo, trickery and ending capability, Ekitike has taken to the Premier League like a duck to water and has double the league objectives tally (10) of his subsequent closest team-mate in Cody Gakpo.
In the harm absence of £125 million file signing Alexander Isak, and with final season’s PFA Player of the Year Mohamed Salah enduring his first poor season since becoming a member of the membership 9 years in the past, better duty has landed on the shoulders of the Frenchman.
A run of 4 video games with no aim has due to this fact introduced better scrutiny on Ekitike, and supporters and pundits have recognized one space of his sport that requires enchancment.
In the pinnacle coach’s press conference forward of Saturday’s game against West Ham United at Anfield, journalist Mo Stewart requested Arne Slot about Ekitike’s headed conversion charge and whether or not coaching this attribute was harder within the trendy sport, with better understanding of the potential impression this motion could make on gamers creating neurodegenerative situations later in life.
Slot stated: “No, I don’t think so. It’s true that when I played – and that’s a long, long, long time ago – sometimes there was a ball hanging on a rope and you had to head that ball 150 times to try to work on your technique.
“I feel trendy methods of coaching would in all probability not use that anymore as a result of it is so remoted that you simply can’t enhance in that method.
“But it is true that what you are noticing, we are noticing as well, he notices it himself also. I’m working with players that always want to develop, so this is one of his points that he wants and tries to develop, and that we do work on.
“Not day-after-day, as a result of that is not potential for different causes than security, however it’s part of his sport that we, but in addition he himself, desires to develop, as a result of he may have scored a number of extra objectives if he would have been higher in that a part of the sport.
“But being 22, 23 [Ekitike is 23], I think it’s quite normal that there are always parts of the game you can improve, and this for him is one of them.”
It was a query that opened up some perception into how shortly sure coaching strategies develop into outdated – Slot referred to as time on his taking part in profession lower than 13 years in the past – however the Liverpool boss did not give something away as to how precisely he and his coaches work with gamers to enhance their heading capability in 2026.
Nevertheless, it was refreshing to listen to Slot communicate so candidly about one among his star gamers’ weaknesses, and the response mirrored properly on each Ekitike and the membership’s teaching employees.
Clearly, Ekitike’s heading is much from his strongest attribute. According to statistics from Fotmob, Ekitike has had 13 headed probabilities this season, with a complete xG (anticipated objectives) of three.15, and has scored two of them.
This is a big sufficient statistical underperformance, although it’s maybe not as pronounced within the information as the attention check may recommend.
For one factor, the information is skewed closely by one dreadful effort towards Leeds United at Anfield, the place Ekitike one way or the other managed to move a 0.78 xG likelihood – an open aim, no much less – away from the aim somewhat than in the direction of it.
If Ekitike had transformed that likelihood, his underperformance within the underlying numbers could be negligible. But that might ignore very apparent points along with his headers which can be solely obvious when watching him play.
Ekitike’s headers appear to lack the ability generated by strikers who excel on this space, which means his looping efforts depend on good placement to search out the again of the online – see his aim towards Tottenham Hotspur.
The Leeds miss maybe additionally demonstrated a problem with getting his gangly 6ft 3in body into the correct place to execute a header properly.
Unfavourable comparisons with the late, nice Diogo Jota are inevitable, such was the Portuguese’s excellence in timing his jumps and producing immense energy and course along with his neck muscle mass – regardless of a substantial top drawback subsequent to Ekitike.
It must be famous that Jota, too, underperformed his headed xG in his closing season at Liverpool, although with out passing up any probabilities fairly as clear reduce as Ekitike’s towards Leeds.
Importantly, although, regardless of standing at simply 5ft 10in, Jota gained extra of his aerial duels (40.7%) than Ekitike (38%). Becoming extra dominant at profitable headers ought to give Ekitike extra room to direct them higher, and must be an achievable aim as he bulks up and grows into his sizeable body.
Another weak spot, however one much less mentioned and maybe extra associated to confidence, is Ekitike’s overreliance on his dominant proper foot.
The method he boasts over different strikers to take tiny touches to arrange his pictures onto his favoured aspect typically lets the France worldwide get away with this, however of the pictures he has taken along with his left foot, they’ve truly by and huge been correct.
Over the course of the Premier League season, Ekitike has taken simply six pictures along with his left foot, for a complete of 1.54 xG. Only one has missed the goal altogether, a stunning miss price 0.39 xG inside the six-yard field towards Burnley.
Four others had been heading in the right direction, together with his aim within the 3-3 towards Leeds at Elland Road, whereas one from the sting of the field towards Chelsea was blocked when seemingly on track for the goal.
Just six pictures is just too small a pattern measurement to attract any conclusions on his reliability along with his left foot. For instance, Ekitike’s conversion charge along with his proper foot is definitely decrease, with seven objectives from 40 pictures, however nobody would argue this makes Ekitike left-footed.
With a better quantity of pictures on his proper foot, this as an alternative signifies Ekitike is prepared to tackle harder probabilities along with his stronger foot; certainly, he has outperformed his xG (4.4) considerably on his most well-liked aspect.
Ultimately, if a striker’s pictures are as closely biased in the direction of their proper foot as Ekitike’s are, it would not matter how good their left foot is likely to be.
A striker who depends too closely on one aspect may find yourself passing up scorable probabilities on their weaker aspect, making this one other space to concentrate on in coaching because the younger striker seeks to develop his confidence for capturing with each toes.
But, as Slot says, it’s regular for a participant to have weaknesses of their sport on the age of 23, and the considered an Ekitike who can add common headed objectives to his repertoire, in addition to capturing with each toes, is a mouth-watering prospect certainly.
