As he trudged off the Allianz Arena turf on Wednesday night, Hugo Ekitike, who barely had a kick as Paris Saint-Germain crashed out at the last 16 stage of the Champions League for the second year running, must have questioned his decision last summer.
Two transfer sagas dominated the headlines on Tyneside in the early days of the post-Mike Ashley era. While Sven Botman arrived and is now integral to Newcastle United’s cause, a certain French youngster snubbed a Toon move not once, but twice.
Ekitike was the subject of a deadline-day switch to Newcastle in January last year. Despite playing a handful of games at professional level, the fresh-faced regime at St James’ Park were willing to stump up around £25million for the striker - a fee Reims accepted.
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However, the prospect rejected the proposal amid the Magpies’ uncertain Premier League future. A few days after the window closed, Ekitike’s agent, Karl Buchmann, angered Toon supporters by revealing reservations about the “project” at Newcastle.
He told French outlet L'Equipe: “We were not convinced about the sports project and we saw no short or medium-term plan with their (Newcastle’s) approach. Hugo has achieved great things in just six months but, as he is attached to the club, we agreed to end the season with Reims.”
A few months later, Newcastle were snubbed again despite coasting to top-flight survival. Finishing 14 points above the relegation zone was enough for Botman to join the Saudi-backed revolution but Ekitike said no.
For a second time, the Magpies were turned down after agreeing a lucrative deal with Reims. Newcastle had reached an impasse and, bizarrely, Ekitike’s then manager Oscar Garcia announced he was intending to stay unless Real Madrid or Barcelona came calling.
Supporters were willing to give the 20-year-old a pass when the club’s Premier League status hung in the balance but the narrative had shifted. Suggestions Ekitke was using Newcastle as leverage to secure a move elsewhere materialised and frustrations were echoed at boardroom level.
As it happened, Ekitike joined PSG and, strangely, his agent thanked him once the move was confirmed. Newcastle fans instantly questioned his career trajectory, with superstars Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar ahead of him in the pecking order.
Their prediction, unsurprisingly, has become reality. Just nine league starts has diminished Ekitike to Ligue 1's forgotten man - less than a year after emerging as one of his nation’s top young talents.
Four goals across all competitions has simmered the hype and proven sceptical Newcastle supporters right. A league winner’s medal is inevitable, with PSG the dominant force in France by some distance. But to what expense? Ekitike has become an also-ran, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the national media.
“No (whether he regrets PSG move), I know why I came here,” Ekitke told Canal+ TV in December. “Of course, when you arrive in a club like this, there’s a lot of expectations. People expect performances, and if they don’t come, people will obviously ask questions.
“I play in a role where I’m always going to be questioned because I came with a big transfer fee. I need to assume that, and that’s what I’m doing. It’s not a problem. If I play badly, I’ll be the first to admit it.”
Three months on, Ektike is no closer to proving his critics - and Newcastle fans - wrong. Even though Neymar has been injured, the former Toon target still cannot get a start for the Parisians.
In sheer desperation, Christophe Galtier lumped Ekitike on for the final nine minutes as PSG’s Champions League hopes faded against Bayern Munich. The move proved pointless as the forward did nothing but chase Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka’s shadows.
His European exit barely received a ripple on social media from Newcastle supporters, who have long forgotten the youngster who twice snubbed their club. However, there may have been a sense of schadenfreude from the Toon hierarchy as the Germans marched into the quarter-finals.
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