{"id":625092,"date":"2025-08-27T21:09:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/?p=625092"},"modified":"2025-09-04T08:51:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T07:51:01","slug":"ekitike-not-called-up-for-french-national-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ekitike-not-called-up-for-french-national-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Didier Deschamps Explains Liverpool Forward Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 Absence from France Squad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite his electric start to life at Liverpool, Hugo Ekitik&eacute; has once again been overlooked for senior international duty with France.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hugo's goal was so quick, Arne missed it! &#128517; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tcOjYN1ELv\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/tcOjYN1ELv<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Liverpool FC (@LFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LFC\/status\/1960402614358827389?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>August 26, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>The 23-year-old striker has hit the ground running in England following his &euro;95m move from Eintracht Frankfurt this summer, scoring three goals in as many games for Arne Slot&rsquo;s side. His early impact has quickly made him a fan favourite at Anfield, but it has not yet been enough to convince Didier Deschamps.<\/p><p>Ekitik&eacute; is no stranger to making waves at club level. After emerging at Stade de Reims and experiencing a brief spell at Paris Saint-Germain, he reignited his career in Germany, netting 26 goals in an 18-month stint with Eintracht Frankfurt. Yet the forward is still waiting for his senior breakthrough with Les Bleus, having previously represented France at youth level.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Competition in places for Ekitik&eacute;<\/h2><p>When unveiling his squad for September&rsquo;s World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Iceland, Deschamps explained his decision to leave out the Liverpool forward.<\/p><p>&ldquo;Hugo, what he did last season and now at Liverpool&hellip; we were already following him at Frankfurt,&rdquo; Deschamps said. &ldquo;It is good for him! It is great that he is efficient, but there is competition. I am not going to accumulate players, but he has the potential to play for the France national team.&rdquo;<\/p><p>Instead, the France manager has opted for tried and trusted names in attack, with Marcus Thuram, Ousmane Demb&eacute;l&eacute; and Kylian Mbapp&eacute; all capable of leading the line. Younger talents such as Maghnes Akliouche, Bradley Barcola, Rayan Cherki and Michael Olise were also included, underlining the depth of options available to Deschamps.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Waiting for his chance<\/h2><p>While the omission will be a disappointment for Ekitik&eacute;, Deschamps&rsquo; comments suggest the door remains open. Should he maintain his prolific form in the Premier League and Europe this season, the Liverpool forward may well force his way into the France squad in the near future.<\/p><p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/dayot-upemecano-over-contract-renewal-talks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>ALSO READ: Bayern Munich in Talks with Dayot Upamecano Over New Contract<\/a><\/strong><\/p><p>For now, though, Ekitik&eacute; must continue to impress at club level &mdash; a stage where he has already made a flying start in Liverpool red.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mm-layout mm-layout-type-post mm-layout-slot4\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite his electric start to life at Liverpool, Hugo Ekitik&eacute; has once again been overlooked for senior international duty with France. The 23-year-old striker has hit the ground running in England following his &euro;95m move from Eintracht Frankfurt this summer, scoring three goals in as many games for Arne Slot&rsquo;s side. His early impact has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mux_skip_reasons":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[4038],"tags":[7424,9463,5630],"class_list":["post-625092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soccer","tag-didier-deschamps","tag-france-national-team","tag-hugo-ekitike"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Didier Deschamps Explains Liverpool Forward Hugo Ekitik&eacute; Absence from France Squad - The Playoffs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite his electric start to life at Liverpool, Hugo Ekitik&eacute; has once again been overlooked for senior international duty with France.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/ekitike-not-called-up-for-french-national-side\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Didier Deschamps Explains Liverpool Forward Hugo Ekitik&eacute; 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