As Liverpool Football Club were in hot pursuit of Alexander Isak all summer, things did not look great towards the latter stages. Newcastle United were holding firm in their valuation, so the Reds somewhat out of nowhere, pivoted and secured a French forward from Eintracht Frankfurt.
When the club agreed to a deal that could rise to £79 million to bring Hugo Ekitike to Anfield, it appeared to signal the end of the Isak saga.
A little over a month later though, the Reds had completed a deadline day deal for Isak that saw the Swede arrive for a British record fee of £125m.
However, since that time, it has been Ekitike and not Isak that has taken Liverpool by storm every chance he gets. As the calendar year winds down, the Frenchman is putting distance between himself and Isak with every performance.
Hot start for Hugo
He scored the opening goal in the Community Shield defeat to Crystal Palace on his debut before securing a goal and an assist on his Premier League debut in the thrilling victory over Bournemouth.
Across all competitions, goals against Newcastle, Everton, Frankfurt and Southampton all followed as Ekitike wasted little time in getting settled in Arne Slot's system. More recently, he has bagged back-to-back braces in the league against Leeds and Brighton.
While many saw him as potentially the most expensive rotational forward in history, the 23-year old has had other ideas.
His pressing, forward drive, and overall progressive mindset have been a huge piece to the Reds this season and it's no wonder that when he's been given a chance to start, good things usually come from the attack.
His versatility allows him to pop up all over the final third, which has made life extra difficult for opposing defenders who have failed to corral him on more than one occasion.
Having joined comfortably early in the summer, Hugo was able to integrate himself throughout the preseason and that is a clear advantage he is still benefiting from in the race for minutes with Isak.
Isak a disappointment, for now
On the other side of the pillow, we have Alexander Isak. The Sweden international was coming off of his best season in 2024/25 scoring for fun for Newcastle, including in their League Cup final defeat of Liverpool.
With the summer departures of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, along with the sudden and tragic passing of Diogo Jota, the Reds forward line needed a new talisman after Mohamed Salah.
Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards identified Isak as the new face of the Reds attack for the next generation, and rightly so as he had scored 27 and 25 goals respectively, in each of the last two seasons.
Unfortunately for both club and player, the way that Isak needed to force his move to Anfield was withdrawing himself form the Magpies preseason work and training in isolation until the move came to fruition on deadline day.
That has left him playing catchup from Day 1, and for a player with a sketchy injury history, missing an entire preseason and more is not an ideal setup to hit the ground running with your new team.
Isak has made 15 appearances to date so far, scoring twice, once in the League Cup and one in the recent Premier League win over West Ham, and has looked a shadow of himself thus far.
Ekitiké is gaining steam while Isak searches for his feet
At this current time, Liverpool are a more fluid and dangerous attacking side when Ekitike is the focal point of the attack. As we saw in the win over Brighton, he is putting himself in dangerous positions and taking the chances when they come his way.
His thunderous volley for the opener against the Seagulls is the purest example of the confidence he is playing with right now and his teammates trust him in those moments as well.
He is a different type of player to Isak as well, which has aided him in his efforts to tie down a starring role for Liverpool for the time-being at the very least.
Whereas our No. 9 relies on good service and a clinical finishing touch in most cases, it's Ekitiké that moves all over the attack and pushes forward from all angles with goal creation the only thing on his mind.
In fairness to Isak, when he has gotten the chance to start this season, the service to him has been almost non-existent. This in turn, has made the most expensive signing in our history invisible on more than once occasion.
His classy finish against West Ham showed he has not lost his finishing touch, rather it's opportunities and form that are missing from his game right now.
The Verdict
Slot and Liverpool have rightly been cautious with Isak as they work him back to fitness, and this is actually not unlike what happened with Federico Chiesa last season, where he spent his early months trying to find peak fitness and just staying on the pitch.
However, during that time, someone needs to step up and take the goalscoring burden, and that has been the fantastic Frenchman.
He has soared ahead in the pecking order and shows no signs of slowing down. Four goals in the last two league matches is undroppable form.
For now at least, Hugo is winning the race for starts and opportunities, and it is not even that close.
He has 10 goals and an assist from 22 appearances in all comps this season. The numbers are what they are, but you can feel a difference on the pitch when each player is out there.
While I fully expect Alexander Isak to come good, it's Hugo's role for the short and medium term at worst. If Liverpool wants to restore their lofty status, they will need both guys to be fit and firing on all cylinders before all is said and done.
Until that time comes, Hugo Ekitike is running away from Alexander Isak, and it's not even close.