It comes just 24 hours after Liverpool had made known their interest in signing Alexander Isak this summer, with the Reds willing to pay £120m for the Swedish striker.
Newcastle remain adamant their star man is going nowhere and is not for sale at any price.
Ideally, Newcastle wanted to sign Ekitike and obviously keep Isak this summer, but doing both is looking increasingly difficult.
Newcastle last week revived their long-term interest in the 23-year-old after two failed previous efforts to bring the forward to Tyneside, and tabled a £70m offer that was swiftly rejected.
The Eintracht Frankfurt hierarchy are adamant they will not allow Ekitike to leave unless they receive a package worth around £86m, which is the release-clause figure contained within his current contract.
There is scope for negotiation over how that fee is paid, however, with Ekitike’s current employers potentially willing to accept an up-front fee of around £76m, with a further £10m of potential add-ons, provided they are seen to be highly achievable.
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Newcastle have been weighing up their next move and reports from Germany early on Wednesday claimed progress had been made in talks with Frankfurt, who were anticipating and improved offer from St James’ Park, but Liverpool have now made another strong play, further complicating matters.
While Isak is very much Liverpool’s top target and the Premier League champions haven’t given up in their pursuit of the 25-year-old, they’re also keeping their options open and have today made contact with Frankfurt over Ekitike.
There’s understandable sensitivity surrounding transfers at Anfield following the tragic death of Diogo Jota earlier this month, but also an awareness of the need to bolster the attack, with Luiz Diaz keen on a new challenge amid Bayern Munich interest and Darwin Nunez up for sale.
After a difficult spell at PSG, Ekitike has got his career back on track in sensational style with Frankfurt, where he scored 22 goals and provided 12 assists in all competitions last season.
