Why Newcastle Fans Boo Hugo Ekitike – and Why the Liverpool Striker Does Not Care

Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike has insisted that he is not bothered by the prospect of facing further abuse from Newcastle United fans during Saturday night’s Premier League clash at Anfield.

Ekitike is not the most popular player among Newcastle supporters after twice snubbing the chance to move to St James’ Park.

Why Newcastle fans boo Hugo Ekitike

Football fans famously do not handle rejection well, so the fact that Ekitike said no to Newcastle more than once is likely to make him a target for booing and jeering this weekend.

Ekitike first turned Newcastle down in 2022 when he opted instead to join Paris Saint-Germain from Reims.

He struggled for game time at PSG and, after making just 12 starts for the Ligue 1 giants, later moved to Eintracht Frankfurt.

It was during his spell in Germany that he once again displayed his elite potential, sparking renewed interest from the Premier League last summer.

Newcastle tried again to sign him and even sent club officials to Germany to hold talks with the 23-year-old.

However, he preferred a move to Anfield and Liverpool signed him in July for an initial transfer fee of £69 million.

Hugo Ekitike not concerned by Newcastle fans booing him

Ekitike made a flying start to his Liverpool career by scoring in each of his first three appearances for the club.

The third of those games was against Newcastle, as Liverpool secured a dramatic 3-2 away win on Tyneside in August.

Ekitike was booed by a group of Newcastle fans during that match and he is expected to receive more abuse on Saturday, albeit from a smaller section of the crowd because the fixture is taking place at Anfield.

When asked this week how he felt about the prospect of being booed, Ekitike replied firmly: “I don’t care.

“I play for Liverpool, I have my fans here, we played there already and won, so hopefully we will have a great week of working. I don’t care about this, I just want to play and help the team. It is simple.

“Obviously, we were close [to joining Newcastle], but I made my choice. I knew where I wanted to come, so that’s all I can give to you.”

Speaking about the support he receives from Liverpool fans, Ekitike added: “It means a lot. I play for fans, they give me so much energy.

“Sometimes in games when I haven’t scored you hear your name from the crowd and it’s a great feeling. It was what I was dreaming of as a kid. I’m grateful and I want to give more to them to make them happy.”

Liverpool will go into Saturday’s game without a win in their last five Premier League fixtures, following a 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth last weekend. This poor run of form has prompted criticism by Jamie Carragher, who thinks Arne Slot’s Liverpool have three major flaws.

They bounced back from that loss on Wednesday night by wrapping up their league phase campaign in the Champions League with a 6-0 victory over Qarabag — in a game that saw Virgil van Dijk record a hat-trick of assists.

Ekitike, who scored the 13th goal of his Liverpool career in that European rout, concluded: “Obviously, when you see the last game in Bournemouth [it is disappointing].

“But what I can say is everyone gave 100% of themselves. Like every team, we have to go through something, but we stick together and hopefully it will go better. We have the quality — I really believe things will go well.”