Hugo Ekitike met his new Liverpool team-mates for the first time in Hong Kong on Thursday, less than 24 hours after completing his £79 million transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt. The French striker signed a six-year contract, which was announced on Wednesday evening, and immediately flew to the Far East to join the squad on their pre-season tour.
Ekitike arrived in time to watch the team's open training session at Kai Tak Stadium, which was attended by 27,000 fans. After the session, he walked onto the pitch to greet head coach Arne Slot and the rest of the players. During a post-workout walkabout, he spent several minutes in conversation with captain Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson.
Left-back Andy Robertson spoke about the integration process, saying: 'When you look at the four older players, the leaders – me, Ali (Alisson Becker), Virg and Mo (Mohamed Salah) – we take it upon ourselves to try to integrate them into the squad as quickly as possible. Especially when they are coming from different countries and cultures, it is about getting them up to speed as quickly as possible.'
Robertson added: 'On the pitch they look after themselves, they have so much quality and that is the pleasing thing. The lads already have settled in and Hugo has just come in so we’ll have dinner tonight.' Liverpool's first match of their tour is against AC Milan on Saturday, but Ekitike's participation remains uncertain.
