Hugo Ekitike surgery supervised by same doctor behind NBA superstar's rapid return

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Hugo Ekitike suffered a serious injury during a Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month and recently underwent surgery as part of his recovery

Hugo Ekitike has a long road to recovery ahead of him(Image: Getty Images)

Hugo Ekitike underwent surgery on his Achilles injury in London last week, and the operation was supervised by the same surgeon who operated on Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum last year.

NBA star Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon last year and has since returned to NBA action after a successful surgery. L'Equipe reports that the surgeon who carried out Tatum's successful operation remotely supervised as Liverpool star Ekitike went under the knife in the British capital.

Ekitike is facing a lengthy lay-off after rupturing his Achilles during Liverpool's Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield earlier this month. Ekitike was withdrawn after around half an hour of the Champions League quarter-final second leg, and it was immediately apparent that he had suffered a serious injury.

Two days later, Liverpool confirmed that Ekitike had suffered a ruptured Achilles, ruling him out for the remainder of the season, the World Cup, and almost certainly the first few months of next season.

Ekitike's injury leaves Alexander Isak — who himself is only just coming back from the broken leg he suffered in December — as the only genuine striker in Liverpool's squad.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot addressed Ekitike's injury in a press conference last week ahead of Sunday's Merseyside derby, which the Reds won through goals from stalwarts Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.

NBA star Jayson Tatum came back from a similar injury to Ekitike(Image: 2026 - The Boston Globe)

"It's devastating for him [Ekitike] coming to a new club and having an impact," Slot said.

"My first thoughts are with him being out for such a long time and missing out on special moments. He's not the first or last to experience this.

"There are so many examples of players that came back even stronger — that's his challenge.

"He could be one of those in 10-15 years time that will say the injury made him stronger and to perform at an even higher level than before."

Liverpool is reportedly not expected to sign anybody to replace Ekitike, with the club instead preferring to make do with what it's got until he returns.

That's despite the club having a whole summer transfer window to potentially sign someone to replace the former Frankfurt striker — although not many top players would be content with coming in for a brief period while knowing that Ekitike would return to the team upon his return from injury.