Wayne Rooney has rated a number of their major 2025 summer Premier League transfer deals, including several players from Liverpool and Manchester United.
Liverpool were the biggest spenders of the summer and broke the British transfer record for Alexander Isak.
Isak is back in training this week after what has been a difficult start to life at Anfield for the former Newcastle United man.
But Wayne Rooney thinks that another recent addition made under Arne Slot’s watch has hit the ground running this season.
Wayne Rooney rates Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak
Speaking to Prime Video, the ex-Man United and Everton forward was asked to rate Premier League signings out of five.
Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, and Isak were the three Liverpool additions rated by Rooney.
Ekitike was given the highest rating, ranking twice as high as Man Utd’s 2025 striker addition, Benjamin Sesko.
Rooney’s ratings:
- Alexander Isak: 2/5
- Nick Woltemade: 3/5
- Bryan Mbuemo: 4/5
- Florian Wirtz: 2/5
- Viktor Gyokeres: 4/5
- Tijjani Reijnders: 3/5
- Joao Pedro: 3/5
- Mohammed Kudus: 3/5
- Anthony Elanga: 2/5
- Hugo Ekitike: 4/5
- Eberechi Eze: 3/5
- Benjamin Sesko: 2/5
Both Sesko and Ekitike were pricey additions, with the former potentially setting Utd back £73.7m with add-ons, while the Frenchman could end up costing Liverpool as much as £79m.
Benjamin Sesko and Hugo Ekitike stats compared
With Isak missing much of the campaign so far due to injury and fitness issues, the former Eintracht Frankfurt ace has been the main man in Slot’s frontline.
So far, the 23-year-old has six goals and one assist in 15 matches across all competitions, finding the back of the net three times in the Premier League.
Sesko has scored two and assisted one in 10 league appearances, blanking in his one Carabao Cup outing this term.
As well as leading on the goal front, the stats, via Fotmob, show Ekitike has a higher passing accuracy (71.1% vs 64.3%), is a much better dribbler (57.9% completed vs 25.0%), but does come up short in one area – aerial duels (37.9% won vs 40.0%).
Slot wants the Liverpool striker to improve in that department, sending a clear message in his pre-Manchester City press conference.
He said: “That is what makes him [Ekitike] special, if you’re that tall and your footwork is as good as his.
“That’s what makes him special, if you’re so tall, he needs to be stronger in duels.”
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