Hugo Ekitike makes Man Utd admission amid Arsenal & Liverpool transfer interest | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt's sought-after striker Hugo Ekitike has revealed that he is a Manchester United fan, prompting many to speculate whether this will have an impact on his decision when a queue of interested suitors come calling this summer.

Ekitike has been in blistering form for Frankfurt this season, rediscovering the kind of clinical edge which convinced Paris Saint-Germain to whisk him away from Reims as a 20-year-old. After failing to properly break through with the French champions, the towering striker reinvigorated his career with a loan move to Frankfurt last year.

The Bundesliga outfit made Ekitike's stay permanent last summer for a modest sum of €16.5m (£13.8m) and will be expecting to make a considerable profit if he is sold this year.

Arsenal and Liverpool have both been heavily linked with the rangy forward, who is expected to command upwards of €80m (£66.9m). The Gunners are cranking up their pursuit of Ekitike but they could face stiff competition from Manchester United.

Hugo Ekitike is enjoying the most prolific season of his career / BSR Agency/GettyImages

As the Reims-born forward revealed in an interview with Eintracht Frankfurt's YouTube channel, United were his "favourite" club as a child. The Daily Mail are one of several outlets which suggest that this could offer United an advantage in this summer's expected pursuit.

The Red Devils are thought to be on the lookout for a new No.9 but they are operating within a strict budget. If Frankfurt, no strangers to selling coveted players for the right price, insist on €80m for Ekitike, this would likely put the 22-year-old out of United's price range.

The player himself may be wary of leaving Frankfurt for one of Europe's super clubs. Ekitike struggled to adapt to life in Paris and emphatically failed to establish himself as a regular in the starting XI. The presence of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe didn't help the youngster's chances, although he wasn't going to waste the opportunity of rubbing shoulders with three modern greats.

"I trained on a daily basis with the best players in the world," Ekitike recently recalled in an interview with L'Equipe. "I would have been the dumbest player, the stupidest human being if I hadn't learned."

When looking ahead to the future, Ekitike warned: "I'm focused on my club, but I know that if I want to take a new course, I'll be better prepared than last time."