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Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer says he is not bitter that Liverpool won the race to sign Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt — but the Frenchman has made a brilliant start to life in the Premier League.
So far in a Liverpool jersey, Ekitike has scored five goals in seven games including the Community Shield. He was, however, sent off against Southampton midweek, meaning he will miss the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
"Ekitike has been superb," Shearer told Betfair. "He's been the pick of Liverpool's new signings. When you consider who they added in Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Alexander Isak, he's without doubt been the standout signing so far.
"Right from the Community Shield, he was at it and obviously his league form as well. I know Liverpool had a really good 25 minutes in the Merseyside derby, but in terms of the second half as we've seen before, they didn't play particularly well.
"Everton were the better team no doubt and once they got the goal, they were right back in the game."
Isak could get another chance to start this weekend because Ekitike is suspended. Wirtz could also come back into the side and play as a false nine, which Arne Slot has previously suggested could be an option for the German.
"Ekitike has been outstanding," Shearer said. "A penny for Isak's thoughts in terms of him signing and playing last week. It was probably a bit of a surprise and then being left out again at the weekend with Ekitike scoring again.
"I am not bitter that Newcastle didn’t get Ekitike. Newcastle was linked with him, Benjamin Sesko, Liam Delap and Bryan Mbuemo.
"It doesn't make Ekitike's good form any harder. He's Liverpool's player, they paid a lot of money for him and he's justifying that price tag."
Liverpool paid an initial $93 million (£69 million) for Ekitike. Last season, he scored 22 goals for Frankfurt, taking on the mantle from Omar Marmoush as the Bundesliga team's main man when he left to sign for Manchester City in January.
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Liverpool.com says: There has been some chatter that Liverpool wouldn't have signed Ekitike had it known for sure that Isak was coming, but that theory just doesn't stack up.
Ekitike had been tracked for a long time and he is already proving how good he is. In any case, Liverpool needs more than one number nine and that will remain true even when Isak is at full tilt again.
With Ekitike and Isak, Liverpool is well stocked in forward areas. Anything less than that and Slot's roster would have been very short of depth when there are going to be two games per week for the next few months.
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