Paris Saint-Germain forward Hugo Ekitiké had his first start for the capital club on Saturday against OGC Nice, where the 20-year-old looked like some who hasn’t had much playing time alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr.
Ekitiké would only play 59 minutes before coming off for Kylian Mbappé, who eventually scored the game-winner in the 2-1 win against Nice. The former Stade de Reims goal scorer left much to be desired from his performance.
Nonetheless, PSG manager Christophe Galiter did notice some positives from the young striker but also stated that he needs to work on aspects, especially when playing alongside Messi and Neymar.
“It was his first start, obviously he does not have the benchmarks and the technical relationship that other players can have when we take Kylian Mbappé as a reference,” Galtier said to Prime Video Sport France (h/t Canal Supporters). “But, on what I asked him, he was very good! He made a lot of effort and was also quite good technically.
“I simply asked him at the break to be a little more present in the penalty area. He made a lot of effort; he had played very little so far; I’m very happy that he was able to start and have an hour of play to take in the atmosphere of the Parc and what a match with PSG represents.”
There’s no doubt that PSG is high on Ekitiké, and at his age, there will be plenty of learning mistakes for a player with a lot of potential to be one of the top French goal scorers down the road.
However, if the young striker wants to display he’s more than capable of playing for the French giants, he needs to improve playing alongside world-class players.