Newcastle United are closing in on the signing of Hugo Ekitike, having had an offer accepted by French side Stade de Reims.
After spending the month in negotiations with Reims' president Jean-Pierre Caillot, Chronicle Live understands that the Magpies have had a transfer offer accepted for Ekitike on deadline day, which values the deal at around €30million for the initial fee and €10million in potential further bonuses.
Having already completed the signings of Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood and Bruno Guimaraes this month, United are hoping to wrap up deals for Ekitike and a number of other targets including Dan Burn and Matt Targett.
The French striker, who is still just 19, has scored eight goals in 18 appearances for Reims so far during the 2021/22 campaign, but only 11 of those appearances were starts, making that statistic all the more impressive.
But just how good is Ekitike? And, what is his potential?
To find out, we assessed the forward's FIFA 22 profile to find out more about Newcastle's potential new striker.
Hugo Ekitike's FIFA 22 profile assessed
Overall rating: 68/99
Overall Potential : 80/99
Position: ST
Weak Foot: Three-Star
Skill Moves: Three-Star
On the face of it, there's not too much to get excited about in regards to Ekitike's FIFA 22 profile, but it does provide a few clues as to what Newcastle fans can expect from the young French striker.
The 19-year-old's current overall rating of 68 out of 99 puts him below the likes of Dwight Gayle (72), Jacob Murphy (68), Chris Wood (77) and Callum Wilson (79).
But, his potential ability of 80 out of 99 suggests that the young striker can go on to become significantly better than those players listed above. And it's likely that the Frenchman will end up even higher than that, considering how much he's been upgraded just in the last three months.
In fact, when FIFA 22 was launched in October, Ekitike was rated at just 62 out of 99, and has been upgraded by six points in just three months, so it's likely that the prospective Magpies player's rating will improve even more as the season goes on.
So what kind of player is Ekitike? Well, his best attributes are jumping, positioning, finishing, sprint speed, ball control, dribbling, composure, strength, shot power and heading accuracy, highlighting that this young forward has all the core attributes needed to flourish in the Premier League for Eddie Howe's side.
The youngster also has a decent left foot, with his weak foot given a three-star rating, whilst he's also got a skill moves rating of three-star, suggesting that he's relatively skilful for his age.
Overall, FIFA 22 tells us that Ekitike is a promising striking talent, who has enormous potential to improve, and is a player who could become an important player for Newcastle for years to come.
