James Pearce shares what will happen before Liverpool decide if Hugo Ekitike can make his debut vs AC Milan

Add as preferred source on Google

Hugo Ekitike’s transfer to Liverpool now feels like it’s all but officially confirmed.

The attacker has touched down in London to undergo his medical ahead of his £69million+ transfer to the Premier League champions.

Indeed, the Reds’ main target this summer was Alexander Isak, but with Newcastle sticking by their stance of not wanting to sell the striker, the Frenchman was the next in line.

And, should everything go as planned, over the next few days the Reds could have a new number nine leading their attacking line.

Hugo Ekitike will have to be judged by Liverpool’s medical staff ahead of his potential debut against AC Milan

Liverpool have now kicked off their Asian pre-season tour, with Federico Chiesa the main player to have missed out on the trip.

The attacker’s Anfield future has been under plenty of scrutiny over the last couple of months, with his omission from the squad all but confirming his imminent departure.

The rumours of players such as Chiesa and Luis Diaz leaving have caused the rumour mill to go into overdrive, with James Pearce now confirming whether Liverpool’s game against AC Milan on 26 July will come too soon for Ekitike’s potential debut.

“It’s difficult to know exactly where he’s up to in terms of what he’s done in terms of testing and all the rest of it so far,” he said via The Redmen TV’s YouTube channel.

“I guess it will be one where Liverpool staff will have to run the rule over him and assess him and then make a judgement call on that [whether he’ll play against AC Milan].”

Hugo Ekitike could end up being the answer to all of Liverpool’s problems

It’s been clear since the end of the 2025-26 season that Liverpool were in dire need of a new number nine.

Although Darwin Nunez had the odd game here and there where he looked to be in top form, he was far too inconsistent, which resulted in Liverpool becoming over-reliant on Mohamed Salah.

Indeed, Diaz and Cody Gakpo were used as strikers when Nunez wasn’t performing, but both seem to play better in their natural positions of left-wing.

Ekitike may not have been Arne Slot’s first-choice, but now he’s set to join, there’s no doubt that plenty of time and effort will be put in to get him to where he needs to be.

If the Frenchman can manage to find the same goal-scoring form that he showed in the second half of the 2024-25 season with Eintracht Frankfurt, Liverpool could end up having a top-class striker leading their attack.

A regular scoring number nine has been one of the main things that the Anfield outfit have been missing to take them to that next level, so here’s hoping that Ekitike makes a name for himself and proves the doubters wrong.