Manchester United need to sign a striker in the summer 2025 transfer window, as Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have failed to provide enough goal-scoring threat up top together.
Both Zirkzee and Hojlund had great success in Serie A as up-and-coming talent at smaller clubs, but neither player is a proven goal-scorer and both have struggled at times in the 2024/25 season.
Although Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim’s former Sporting CP star striker Viktor Gyokeres is still widely seen as the favorite to join the Red Devils this summer, the club are looking for alternatives.
According to a report from Sky Sports Germany, via mufcmpb, Manchester United are “seriously” interested in Eintracht Frankfurt breakout star striker Hugo Ekitke, former of Reims and PSG.
Ekitike is wanted by virtually every top club in need of a No. 9 this summer, and the most prominent of those clubs is a Premier League rival of United’s, title contenders Arsenal.
Eintracht Frankfurt are reportedly looking for a hefty 67 million pounds in order to sell the 22-year-old Frenchman, and while that is a hefty sum of money, it would be cheaper than the cost of Gyokeres.
The Eagles of Germany are reportedly resigned to the fact that Ekitike will join Omar Marmoush in leaving this summer with so many big clubs interested, so they want to be compensated fairly.
Where Ekitike ends up is the real question. He had scored 13 goals this season in his own right, and while he is a better finisher than Zirkzee and Hojlund, he also appears to be more of a well-rounded type than a true fox in the box as a 9.
So from that perspective, Manchester United may favor a different Bundesliga striker in RB Leipzig star Benjamin Sesko, or they could have Gyokeres instead. But Ekitike is good enough to be somewhere on the shortlist, even if not at the very top.
Joe Soriano covers West Ham for Green Street Hammers and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.