Emile Heskey has offered advice to one of Liverpool’s summer signings who he described as ‘a bundle of energy’.
The Reds brought in several new players during the most recent transfer window, with Arne Slot still figuring out how to best integrate the raft of new players into his starting XI.
Hugo Ekitike has been the most impactful of the newcomers so far, with five goals our top scorer at this stage of the season, despite having failed to score three times since his unnecessary red card against Southampton last month.
Heskey gives advice to Ekitike
Heskey has been thoroughly impressed with what he has seen from the Frenchman so far, although he advised the 23-year-old to try and stick to a central position rather than constantly moving out wide.
Speaking about the No Tippy Tappy football podcast, the ex-Liverpool striker said about Ekitike: “He’s settled. He looks settled. He looks really good.”
“He’s a young lad who’s just full of energy, just wants to get on the ball, wants to take on players. He’s more of a traditional type than what we know as a front two, where they go down the wing.”
“He doesn’t stay central. If you look at him, one minute he’s on the left wing and the next minute he’s on the right wing. Then it’s like he’s trying to come in and try to spin the ball and drive with it.”
“He’s a bundle of energy at the moment. Maybe he should just concentrate on trying to stay within the width of the goal or something like that.”
Ekitike tends to move into midfield and wide
With Ekitike failing to find the net in his last three games after such a prolific start to his Liverpool career, would Ekitike be wise to follow Heskey’s advice when it comes to restricting himself to a central position?
If you look at the Frenchman’s heat map for the season so far (viewable via 1vs1), it is immediately apparent that he often drifts into the space just outside the penalty area on the left flank and also tends to drop back into the middle third, rather than staying central in the 18-yard area.
Slot will certainly appreciate the 23-year-old’s mobility and work rate, and he has already shown echoes of Bobby Firmino with his clever link-up play.
If Ekitike is selected to start against his former club Eintracht Frankfurt tonight (as John Aldridge hopes), with Florian Wirtz at number 10, we may see the France international stick mainly to a conventional centre-forward position and be in the right place to capitalize on any opportunities created for him.
Heskey makes a valid point in his analysis of Liverpool’s number 22, although the summer signing has certainly done a lot of good at Anfield, and hopefully what we’ve seen from him so far is just the tip of the iceberg!
You can watch Slot’s full post-Manchester United press conference via Kingdom of the Kop on YouTube:
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