Hugo Ekitike’s Liverpool switch could go one of two ways, as West Ham know all too well.

The ex-Eintracht Frankfurt forward has stepped into the Premier League spotlight with high expectations, as the Reds invested a hefty £79million after his single standout season in Germany.

9

9

And as history tells us, buying from Frankfurt tends to be either genius or a disaster, with not much space in between.

The Bundesliga team has been remarkably successful in the transfer market in recent years, notably in the forward department. Players like Luka Jovic, Randal Kolo Muani, and Andre Silva were acquired for minimal costs, netted numerous goals, and were later sold for significant profits.

More often than not, purchasing clubs have found themselves lacking in terms of value for money, with one prime example being the last English club to invest heavily in Germany’s monetary center.

Back in 2019, West Ham made a bold move to resolve their enduring striker dilemma, facing minimal resistance as they shattered their club record transfer fee with a £44m bid for Frankfurt’s Sebastien Haller.

The London side had proved to be a challenging destination for strikers, with over £200m spent on forwards during the Gold & Sullivan period, yet Mark Noble managed to outscore them all.

Yet with Haller, it seemed to make some sense, spend big, sure, but at least end the club’s biggest problem for good.

The France-born Ivory Coast forward had recently emerged from two equally stellar seasons at Frankfurt, partnering with Serbian Luka Jovic to establish one of Europe’s most formidable scoring partnerships.

The 2017/18 season brought the club’s first silverware in 30 years with the DFB Pokal, and the following campaign they nearly went all the way in the Europa League, falling at the semi-finals.

Through it all, Haller not only notched 33 goals, but crucially supplied 16 assists, as he appeared to be the all-round striker who could not only score, but provide and make his team play better.

All of that combined with his ideal age of 25 and impressive build at 6ft 3in, the former Utrecht man seemed purpose built for the travails of Premier League football.

9

9

What happened to Sebastien Haller at West Ham?

The early signs weren’t bad either, Haller netted twice against Watford in his second game, and after eight games had a record of four goals and an assist, perhaps not £44m worth of production, but enough to keep the pressure off nonetheless.

Yet under the man who signed him, Manuel Pellegrini, things not only dropped off for Haller, but the whole team, resulting in the Chilean’s sacking in December.

In came David Moyes to end the season, and Haller would score just two more times, with the Scott moving him to the bench for the run-in, favouring converted winger/full-back Michail Antonio.

Hope wasn’t over, though, as Haller started the following season in even better form than the last, scoring five in five to raise hopes the striker curse was finally over.

Yet as things again dropped off, so did Moyes’ faith, and it soon became clear that the player and manager just weren’t a fit.

An offer of £18m from Ajax came in during the January window, and Moyes cut his losses, but was soon left with egg on his face.

9

9

Was Sebastien Haller a success at Ajax?

Haller became the fastest player in the Champions League’s history to reach ten goals, doing so in just six games, and the verdicts were in how West Ham’s record signing only lasted 18 months.

Ajax influencer TheEuropeanLad told talkSPORT: “At West Ham he was more like a lamp post, they just put him up front and they put him on an island and they threw long balls at him.

“That does not work with him because he doesn’t have the technical ability to do anything far away from the goal, he can’t dribble well, he’s not very fast, he has no skills. 

“So what needs to happen is you need to build a team around him with lots of movement and lots of depth on the wings, and you need a creative No. 10 behind him.

“And when you do that a lot of space opens up and he will get his chances every game and he’s a good finisher, that’s a good aspect, he will finish chances.

“That’s the big difference with West Ham, because over there he wasn’t used like that and that’s the reason he’s so successful at Ajax, because we have a very creative and attacking team, and as a striker that’s just heaven because you will get so many chances every game.”

9

9

Former Netherlands and Ajax winger Johnny Rep had a similar view of his West Ham failures.

The 42-cap Holland international said: “I think he was a bit expensive. He has already scored a few goals and given assists.

“But I don’t think he’s a world XI footballer either.

“He fits in [at Ajax], I think, because there are all those little men running around.

“Then it is nice if there is also a tree of a guy in between who can sometimes head in a ball.”

Haller didn’t just head in a ball, he put away 47 efforts in just 66 games, enough for Ajax to win two Eredivisie titles and pocket £30million from Borussia Dortmund, turning one of West Ham’s worst buys into one of the Amsterdam outfit’s best.

9

Things didn’t work out at Dortmund due to a shock testicular cancer diagnosis, from which Haller has thankfully now fully recovered and later became his country’s hero at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

Yet whether it’s Haller, Jovic, Silva, Kolo Muani, or Ante Rebic, buying big from Frankfurt certainly isn’t a guarantee of success, even with Liverpool’s worries undoubtedly soothed by Omar Marmoush’s start at Manchester City.