Hugo Ekitike has been Liverpool’s standout performer in the 2025/26 season.
While players like Alexander Isak and Milos Kerkez have taken time to adapt to life at Anfield, the Frenchman is thriving.
Ekitike is in the Liverpool history books alongside Kenny Dalglish after his impressive goalscoring return.
After scoring in the 6-0 win over Qarabag, the former Eintracht Frankfurt man now has 13 goals and four assists in all competitions this season.
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Ekitike was assisted by Florian Wirtz on Wednesday evening, seeing the Liverpool duo take a step closer to matching a record held by Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard.
Hugo Ekitike praises Florian Wirtz
Wirtz and Ekitike’s partnership has been blossoming for some time, especially since the former was moved out onto the left wing on a more regular basis.
Now, the number nine has opened up on what it is like playing with the German on Merseyside.
Speaking to Hayters TV, the 23-year-old said that Wirtz is a great player and he enjoys playing alongside him.
Ekitike stated: “Yeah, I gave him [Wirtz] a lot of assists. He needs to give it me back now.
“Obviously, as I said before like he’s a great player. I love to play with that kind of player and hopefully like we can just do that and continue each game in every game. Keep scoring and give assists to each other.”
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Ekitike and Wirtz’s connection has been one of the few bright sparks in the 2025/26 season.
However, their inclusion in the frontline on a weekly basis does leave Slot, or any other potential manager in the future, with issues.
Alexander Isak, Ekitike, Wirtz and Mohamed Salah all need to start most games.
Ekitike and Wirtz for their form, Isak for his price-tag and Salah because well, we have seen what happens when he doesn’t.
But there is no way for all four to be effectively used in one attack without impacting the rest of the team, e.g., Wirtz playing as a 10 would see Dominik Szoboszlai dropped or moved into a deeper role.
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