Hugo Ekitike is ready to show he can become Liverpool's post-Mohamed Salah poster boy

Back in September, former Manchester United assistant manager Rene Meulensteen felt that in spite of Ekitike's strong start to his Liverpool career (three goals in his first three games), he was going to have to get used to sitting on the bench as soon as Alexander Isak was fully fit because his fellow forward was "a far better, more rounded player with more Premier League experience".

At the time, very few people would have disagreed with the Dutchman. It was obviously impossible to dispute the claim that former Newcastle striker Isak had more experience than the Frenchman. Indeed, the amount of money Liverpool paid for Ekitike (£69 million) raised a lot of eyebrows around Anfield, given he'd yet to be capped by France and was coming off the back of just one good season in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt.

However, the size of the fee never bothered Ekitike. He was utterly convinced he was good enough to shine in the Premier League - and Liverpool were too.

Although it may have looked like the Reds moved for Ekitike to force Newcastle into letting Isak leave St. James' Park, they'd been following the Frenchman for some time. Director of research Will Spearman had found that, from a statistical perspective, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe were the only strikers to have shown 'greater potential at a comparable age', and the belief was that Slot was the perfect manager to get the absolutely most out of Ekitike.

The early signs are certainly very encouraging, because while Florian Wirtz's influence is growing with each passing week, Ekitike has undoubtedly proven himself the best addition to Liverpool's squad during the first four months of the season.

To put Ekitike's instantaneous impact on Merseyside in context, the 23-year-old has scored as many goals in his first 10 starts for Liverpool (seven) as Salah during his record-breaking 2017-18 campaign, with only Daniel Sturridge having ever managed more (eight).

After back-to-back braces against Leeds United and Brighton, Ekitike also now has 10 goals in all competitions - twice as many as any other Liverpool player, which is seriously impressive when one considers he's started seven games on the bench. 

"He's very clinical," Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told reporters on Saturday. "It's not been an easy season, but for him to come in and produce these numbers is excellent. It's something we need."

Indeed, the days of Ekitike being left out of Slot's starting line-up to accommodate Isak in his desperate bid to get back up to speed are likely already over - especially with Salah away on AFCON duty and Cody Gakpo out injured.

No matter what way Liverpool want to line up during a festive period that is absolutely crucial to their hopes of turning their season around, Ekitike has to play right from the first whistle - whether that's out wide, in tandem with Isak or in place of the British-record signing.

There may have been legitimate doubts over his attitude after a sending-off against Southampton in the Carabao Cup that the usually reserved Slot labelled "needless and stupid", but Ekitike apologised for the idiocy of picking up a second yellow for taking off his shirt while celebrating his winning goal - and, more importantly, learned from it.

He's clearly an exuberant and expressive character, meaning he struggles to hide his frustration on the field, but there have been no further signs of egotism in recent weeks - only a sustained effort to deliver what Slot is asking of him.

"As a player, sometimes you're p*ssed off, as it can be annoying," Ekitike told the Daily Mail, "but I know that [the manager] wants the best for me and he wants the best for the team. I would say he's on my back, but (it's) not a bad thing. He just wants to help me, so I don't take that badly. He wants me to give more and more." And, to Ekitike's credit, his overall output has increased.

Only Haaland is averaging more goals per 90 minutes in this season's Premier League than Ekitike, but it's not even just a question of strike-rate. His influence on Liverpool's play is increasing with each passing week.

In stark contrast to the painfully ineffective Isak, he's getting more and more touches, and having more and more shots - which is now making Meulensteen's claim that the Swede is the more "rounded" player look surprisingly wide of the mark.

Even Slot has admitted that Ekitike has that 'X factor' that gets fans - and even managers - on their feet. Perhaps more importantly than anything else, though, he's willing to run himself into the ground for the cause, as underlined by his cramp-enforced withdrawal against Brighton.

"The goals he scored were good goals but there were other moments I thought 'wow!'" Slot told Match of the Day. "And that, of course, is why we wanted him, apart from the goals. So, it is good to see he and others who came in the summer are improving. They had to adapt to the Premier League, to that intensity, because they were all young except for Alex (Isak), but I see all of them making progress.

"So, while Hugo had cramp, I can assure you that he did probably twice as much today as in games at the beginning of the season where I had to take him off with cramp as well."

Slot's basic point is that there is even more to come for Ekitike, which is a terrifying thought for Premier League opponents, but a source of great comfort to Liverpool in what is a still-trying time. The Reds' results have improved in recent weeks, but they still don't look anything like the unstoppable force we expected to see after an unprecedented summer spending spree, and while Slot insists that the Salah situation has been resolved, there remains an air of uncertainty around Anfield.

There are some grounds for optimism, though. The defence finally seems to be getting its act together and it only feels like a matter of time before Wirtz's good work is rewarded with more goals and assists.

In time, Isak could also end up justifying his lofty transfer fee, but luckily for Liverpool, Ekitike already has - and actually looks eminently capable of proving himself a bargain buy. It should go without saying that it's unlikely he'll even get close to matching Salah's achievements at Anfield, but whenever the Egyptian King does depart, Ekitike might well be next in line to the throne.