£70m signing is everything Liverpool needed for THREE years

Over the last three years, Liverpool had been calling out for something that every other team had.

The side looked lost across at times throughout that time span. Now, the side feels more complete.

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Of course, the obvious point of contention that you could have had with the Reds' XI is the lack of a proper attacking midfielder, since it always felt like Dominik Szoboszlai was somewhat shoe-horned into the position - he struggled to really deliver the goal contributions you'd expect from a No. 10.

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But no, the addition of Florian Wirtz is not the topic here. Instead, it's the tweak Liverpool made a little further up the pitch, by signing Hugo Ekitike and selling Darwin Nunez to part-fund his move.

£70m Ekitike is EVERYTHING we needed

To say it was a gamble splashing £69m plus a potential £10m in add-ons on an unproven 23-year-old striker is a bit of an understatement if we're all honest. I personally had a lot of doubts it was only the realisation that he can also play on the left-hand side that change my overall opinion on his transfer.

However, that stance currently does the Frenchman a dis-service, since his efforts as the frontman have been extraordinarily impressive. He deserves all the plaudits he's getting right now from fans.

In the two pre-season games, he secured an assist, and then he got on the scoresheet in the Community Shield a week later. Two goals and assists in three games prior to the season starting is about as useful an audition as he could've given us, but still I wasn't fully convinced at that point.

After all, Nunez had scored four goals in his first preseason with the Reds and also got a goal in the Community Shield. How could you feasibly have differentiated the pair after such few games?

You couldn't. But to say that Ekitike has kicked on from there and shown himself to categorically have been a successful transfer is quite an astonishing situation to be in. We all know how Nunez's three years panned out at Liverpool and throughout that time, there was one major thing missing.

Clinical edge. Ekitike doesn't get very many opportunities, but when he's in position to get a shot off, he takes such little time to think about what he's doing, instead focusing on the precision of his effort.

In six competitive appearances for the Reds, he has three goals and an assist. Each finish involved a ball being played through the opposition's defensive line, him managing to hold off the defenders, before pulling the trigger and putting it out of the goalkeepers reach. It's been magnificent to watch.

Five big chances are said to have been missed by Ekitike so far in his Liverpool career - including two in the Community Shield - but the improvement on Nunez is clear for all to see. In 143 matches, the Uruguayan missed 83 big chances, which equates to one every 89 minutes he played for us.

To put it simply, there's a composure that wasn't there previously. In Liverpool's 4-1 win over Chelsea at Anfield on January 31, 2024, you might remember Nunez hit the woodwork four times - as much as we all backed him prior to his move to Al Hilal this summer, it was tough to watch him.

So while you expect a certain amount of quality from a £70m signing, nothing is ever guaranteed.

Liverpool's recruitment team deserve a lot of credit for looking at the underlying data on Ekitike and backing spreadsheets by signing him. It feels as though the approach has delivered us a real star.