Newcastle United were one of nine Premier League clubs to watch Hugo Ekitike on Sunday.
The striker was featuring in his first match for Reims since the closure of the January transfer window.
The teenager was heavily linked with Newcastle last month.
There had been initial interest in the player halfway through the window. That interest then developed into an actual approach and bid on deadline day.
Reims reportedly accepted a proposal from Newcastle for the player. But ultimately, Ekitike didn’t want to make the move at such short notice.
He stayed put and will now be under the microscope for the rest of the season.
According to 90min, as many as nine clubs are present in some capacity to watch Ekitike play against Bordeaux in Ligue 1. Apparently the ‘Big Six’ clubs were there, as well as West Ham United and Leicester City.
And many will have enjoyed what they saw.
Ekitike won a penalty in the first-half and stepped up to take it himself. His effort was saved, but he followed up quickly to score.
That would get the ball rolling for an eventual 5-0 win for Reims, and Ekitike had a good game.
Giving him 7/10, GFFN said of his performance: “He opened the scoring by tucking home a rebound from his own, admittedly poor, penalty but was always a threat generally with his pace and skill, as Fransérgio found out, and was involved in two of the other four goals and added the most shot creating actions with 4.”
GFFN also brutally gave Bordeaux defender Abdel Medioub a 1/10, stating the Algerian was simply ‘terrified’ of Ekitike.
Newcastle face massive competition for Hugo Ekitike this summer, as Toon and others watch striker vs Bordeaux
As well as the nine Premier League clubs, 90min have said that several other European clubs, including Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, were casting their eye over the youngster.
Supposedly all these clubs were already aware of Ekitike before Newcastle came calling in January.
The information suggests Newcastle are not going to have it easy this summer if they decide to pursue Ekitike again.
He is clearly very hot property.
While financially Newcastle can compete, the Magpies are obviously very early on in their revolution. The project is obviously hugely exciting, but in its infancy.
Landing Ekitike is going to be hard, and will certainly require the club to retain its Premier League status at the very least.
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