Just one season with the ‘big boys’ was enough for Hugo Ekitike (20) to make footballing Europe go crazy.The French striker scored 10 goals in his first senior Ligue 1 season for Reims, but his talent and potential left a much stronger impression than just the number of goals scored. So much so that they have already nicknamed him the “new Mbappe” of French football, even though he plays completely different football than the highest-paid footballer in the world in terms of style of play and constitution.Even in the middle of the season, Newcastle tried to bring him in the winter transfer window and offered around 30 million euros. But neither Reims nor the player was in the mood for a transfer at that time. They waited for the end of the season and promised the Magpies that they would negotiate in the summer.##NAJAVA_MECA_6502044##Summer arrived, the football market opened and Newcastle rushed to grab the French jewel as soon as possible. The Premier League club offered 36 million euros fixed plus 10 million through bonuses and got the green light from Reims who were more than happy with that amount of money. Negotiations began with the player and his representatives, everything seemed to be going well, but then Ekitike started to make things complicated and hesitated to answer. As if he was waiting for something else…And that ‘something else’ came!L’Equipe first reported that Real Madrid made contact with Ekitike’s agent and invited him to Madrid where they negotiated, and that PSG and Bayern were also interested. Neither did Munich deny their interest, nor did PSG sit idly by.The French media are reporting tonight that Paris Saint-Germain have reached an agreement with Ekitike and that the Frenchman can’t wait to move to the Parc des Princes. Although Newcastle offered him 15 times the current salary (an increase from 17,000 to 250,000 euros per week), it is evident that he was more interested in a club with greater competitive ambitions. And you don’t play for pocket money in Paris either…🚨 Hugo Ekitike has agreed a deal in principle to sign for PSG and already sees himself in Paris! The club are unanimous on the transfer and hope to lower Stade de Reims’ asking price after they accepted an offer from Newcastle for €36m + €10m add ons. (Source: Le Parisien) pic.twitter.com/gRbwDTQN4k— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) July 11, 2022 PSG now have to get Reims’ consent and that won’t be easy. The Saints have no intention of offering as much as the Magpies but significantly less. They hope the player will put pressure on Reims to let him go to Paris for less money.Ekitike is a big wish of the new director Luis Campos, known for his ‘nose’ for young players. The man who discovered Mbappe and created the Monaco generation in which Kylian exploded, then launched a host of young talent at Lille and created a champion generation, believes Ekitike is a player PSG must not miss.The French champions are looking for a center-forward as Mauro Icardi is on the transfer list, and so far Sassuolo’s Gianluca Scamacca has been mentioned as the number one target. However, the Italian club would not agree to anything less than 50 million euros and PSG turned their focus to Ekitike.
