Hugo Ekitike has been ruled out of this summer’s World Cup after pulling up with an injury on Tuesday night, according to reports in France.
The 23-year-old French striker went down off the ball 30 minutes into Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final second-leg match against Paris Saint-Germain, and was taken off on a stretcher.
Ekitike won his first cap for France last September and was expected to be part of Didier Deschamps’ squad for this summer’s World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. He will undergo tests on Wednesday, which are expected to confirm a ruptured Achilles tendon, RMC Sport reported.
‘Hugo looks really bad, but it is difficult to say how bad,’ Slot said after the game.
‘Let’s see. It doesn’t look good, that is clear. I didn’t see him at half-time, and after the game he was already home. I have not spoken to him yet.’
Ekitike joined Liverpool from Eintracht Frankfurt for £79m last summer and has been one of the side’s shining lights amid a difficult season, scoring 17 goals in 45 games in all competitions.
Liverpool were dumped out of the Champions League by the Paris outfit on Tuesday night courtesy of Ousmane Dembele’s brace, confirming Arne Slot’s side will end their season trophyless.
The Reds are still well in the fight to qualify for the competition next season, though, sitting fifth in the top flight.
And Ekitike will be a sore miss in the run-in if this is the case, given he is their top scorer in the Premier League this season with 11 goals (seventh overall). His levels have dropped off of late, though, and he has failed to find the back of the net since scoring against West Ham in February.
Amongst their six remaining fixtures, Slot’s side must still visit Manchester United, host Chelsea, and travel to Aston Villa before the season’s end.
Ekitike’s club and international team-mate Ibrahima Konate told Amazon Prime after the match: ‘I think it is bad. I don’t know, I have heard many things.
‘I have no words to talk about that because, with the World Cup coming, it is very, very hard for him, and I send him my prayers.’
The Frenchman started alongside Alexander Isak in attack, with the £125m Swede making his return to Slot’s line-up for the first time since early December after recovering from a broken leg.
Florian Wirtz, who joined Liverpool for £116m from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, also started, with Slot lamenting how often his three big signings have been able to play together this season.
‘For 88 minutes until tonight we have played with Florian, Alex and Hugo. We added about 27 to that, and I would be surprised if we add more minutes to that this season.
‘The good thing is Alex is back.’