Hugo Ekitike has made a great start at Liverpool, but Ian Wright says there’s a catch

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There’s no denying Hugo Ekitike has made a great start to life at Liverpool, at least if you look at the raw numbers he’s producing for the Reds.

After arriving from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer for around £69m, there were obviously big expectations around Ekitike.

He didn’t take long to show what he can do, though. The Liverpool man bagged a goal and an assist on his league debut against Bournemouth, and now has six goals to his name so far this season.

As far as new strikers in the Premier League go, Ekitike looks to be a roaring success. Ekitike was hailed as ‘outstanding’ just a couple of weeks ago, but now, Ian Wright has questioned the way we judge new signings like this.

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Ian Wright questions Hugo Ekitike

On the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast, Wright was asked about the way Ekitike has settled in at Liverpool and how he’s adapted to the English game, and the former Arsenal man raised a good point.

Wright replied: “It’s different for a striker. People don’t understand, with a striker, you can be up there, you can be falling off your bad touch, ball comes across, bam, you tap it in, everyone says, oh, ‘he’s settled.’ Because you’ve scored the goal.

“With a midfielder, it’s harder. For the defender, it’s harder. It’s harder for everyone else apart from a striker.” A striker will score, it will go in, everyone will think he’s settled.”

It’s a fair observation. You look at the Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko situation, where both attackers have taken their time to find their feet, and it all really comes down to goals.

If the numbers look good, pundits and fans don’t often look too deep into how a striker is actually playing.

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Hugo Ekitike vs Alexander Isak: There’s only one winner

Liverpool made the decision to sign Ekitike and Alexander Isak this summer, but only one player has truly hit the ground running and that’s Ekitike. He’s certainly outscoring his more expensive teammate, that’s for sure.

But, inside Liverpool there is a belief that Isak has settled well, especially when it comes to training and fitness regimes. Now, he just needs to hit his stride on the pitch.

If we compare the two forwards, it makes for an interesting analysis. Ekitike has six goals from an xG of 5.0, while Isak has one goal from an xG of 1.7, so he’s actually underperforming while Ekitike is overperforming in that regard.

Ironically, Isak has a better shots on target rate than Ekitike, with 53.8% of his efforts hitting the target as opposed to 30.3% for the Frenchman.

But, if you look at how the pair influence a game, Ekitike has 2.39 shot-creating actions per 90 and 0.22 goal-creating actions per 90, while Isak is way down at 1.18 shot-creating actions and zero goal-creating actions.

Statistically, Ekitike wins the day for Liverpool in most departments. But, it’s worth noting that last season, at his peak, Isak registered 3.01 shot-creating actions per 90, so there’s a lot of scope for him to outdo Ekitike in the long-run if he can find his best form.