The two play football similarly! Telegraph: Liverpool hopes Ekitic can catch up with Isak

July 24th According to the Daily Telegraph, Liverpool hopes that Ekitic can become the next Isaac and even surpass the Swedish striker.

Liverpool seems unlikely to sign Isaac successfully, but by introducing Ekitic, the Reds may have found a replacement for the Newcastle striker. The tall, fast and ruthless shooting Ekitic plays similarly to Isaac in his way of playing, and his football career has gone through a similar trajectory.

Ekitic, 23, officially joined Liverpool on Wednesday night. He is younger than Isaac, but has not proved himself in the Premier League. The French striker undoubtedly has great potential, and for Liverpool, he joins with a relatively reasonable transfer fee.

Like Isaac, Ekitic's Premier League road is not smooth. A talented star in France, he was signed from Reims by Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 20 but failed to exert his expected influence in such a large club. He scored only 4 goals in his 33 games for Paris Saint-Germain.

Isaac encountered similar problems early in his career. At the age of 17, he joined Dortmund from Sweden, but only made five appearances in the Bundesliga without scoring, and then transferred to Real Sociedad. Isaac eventually came to England a few weeks before his 23rd birthday and gradually grew into one of the most threatening strikers in the Premier League. Liverpool clearly believes Ekitic can reach this level at the same age, and there is a lot of evidence that their judgment may be correct.

Ekitic's performance in Frankfurt was convincing, scoring 22 goals in 48 games last season. These numbers don't fully reflect his goal quality as he demonstrates a variety of ways to score. Just like Isaac, Ekitic can take many ways to break through the opponent's defense. During his time in Germany, he scored with curve balls, headers, one-on-one breakthroughs, back-point push shots and long shots. He has all kinds of shooting skills, even if sometimes he can't choose the right shooting method at critical moments.

Ekitic has attracted Newcastle's interest many times. In the Europa League last season, he scored a wonderful long-range goal in the away game against Tottenham. Of course, Ekitic and Isaac are not exactly the same, the French may be more creative and dribbling, while Isaac is more calm and deadly. In the league last season, Isaac scored three more goals than expected, while Ekitic scored seven fewer. Last season, he hit the goal frame the most and shot the most in the Bundesliga.

This instability in the shooting may worry Liverpool fans, who have seen Nunez's performance fluctuations over the past three seasons, hoping that Ekitic will become even more ruthless as he enters the middle of his career. In fact, Liverpool's data analysis shows that Ekitic's shot data is more likely to improve rather than worsen. Another issue worth noting is that players who are introduced from the Bundesliga at high prices often have difficulty replicating their offensive performance in the Premier League. In recent years, players like Sancho, Nkunku, Pulisic and Werner have failed to meet expectations after transferring from the Bundesliga to the Premier League. In addition, the Frankfurt striker's performance after leaving the team was not satisfactory. Muani (PSG), Jovic (Real Madrid) and Alle (West Ham) all performed poorly after high-priced transfers. However, Ekitic had a strong desire to make progress and perhaps hoped to prove that Paris Saint-Germain abandoned himself was a mistake.

Ekitic may also be noticeable off the court. He loves fashion and has been photographed wearing all kinds of exaggerated clothing in recent years. During Paris Fashion Week last year, he wore a pink plush jacket, pink shirt and pink sunglasses, although this summer he said he was less interested in fashion than before.

The most important thing for Liverpool is that Ekitic can continue to improve and make the most of his physical and technical talents. He has all the elements that a modern forward needs: speed, technology, creativity, and physique. Will Ekitic become the next Isaac? If all goes well, he may even surpass Isaac.