At PSG, Hugo Ekitike found the right team but was wrong. But it was the best school for the French striker to grow.
When Ekitike entered the PSG dressing room in the summer of 2022, he was only 20 years old. There were Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, the top three superstars of the world football. A flashy but suffocating environment, especially with a young talent that has just emerged from Reims.
During the first season at the prince park, Ekitike was mainly on the bench. The young French striker only played 12 matches at Ligue 1. 4 goals after a total of 32 appearances without convincing anyone. The more sad thing is that Ekitike felt lost every time he appeared. Mbappe even publicly complained about the selfish play of juniors. The L'Equipe newspaper once called Ekitike “the shadow” at the Camp Des Loges.
But it was there that Ekitike learned valuable lessons.
“I see them doing everything naturally and professionally. I learned the calmness and how to keep calm at the pressure,” Ekitike once shared about the experience of the dressing room with Messi, Neymar, Mbappe.
The collision with the most harsh football environment in the world helps Ekitike gradually understand: the talent of playing football is not enough. In order to exist at the highest level, you must have a personality, must be humble at the right time and assert yourself in important times.
During the winter transfer window in 2024, Ekitike stopped his shirt to Frankfurt as loan. Even though coach Luis Enrique wanted to keep him as a rotation plan, Ekitike resolutely refused. “I don't want to stay just to receive my salary. I want to play,” the striker was born in 2002.
It was the decision of a young player who knew what he needed and resolutely stepped out of Messi's shadow.
Now when joining Liverpool, Ekitike carries a different mentality. No longer a dreamy guy in Paris, no longer a young player overwhelmed in the dressing room heavy for great ego. Ekitike is used to pressure. He understands the collective role and the importance of professionalism.
At Anfield, Ekitike will not meet Messi but must live with Mohamed Salah. And the atmosphere of pressure in Liverpool with discipline and demanding is like PSG before. Even Premier League is even more fierce than Ligue 1 and Bundeslia. But it is the lessons from PSG that will help Ekitike better adapt both in the gameplay and dressing room.
Ekitiké scored 10 goals in 24 matches in Ligue 1 when he was 19 years old. The potential is real. But more importantly, now Ekitike is no longer naive. The former French U21 striker learned how to grow up in the darkness of the superstars.
When Liverpool needs to increase the attack, they do not want to repeat the mistake as with Darwin Nunez. Liverpool not only needs a goal but also attitude, progress and endurance. Ekitike, who once quietly behind Messi, tasted enough taste to know how to live with pressure.
