Owen Hargreaves tips £69m Liverpool signing to become 'the best in the world'

Owen Hargreaves has been impressed with Hugo Ekitike’s start at Liverpool (Premier League)

Owen Hargreaves believes Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike can become the best striker in the world.

Liverpool signed Ekitike for an initial £69 million fee from Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt last summer.

The 23-year-old has been one of Liverpool’s standout performers in an inconsistent campaign for the defending Premier League champions, scoring 16 goals in 37 appearances.

Ekitike scored Liverpool’s opener in their 5-2 win at home to West Ham on Saturday and Hargreaves feels the France international has all the qualities to become one of the world’s best.

‘I tell you why he [Slot] is smiling, he’s got Hugo Ekitike in his team,’ Hargreaves told Premier League Productions.

‘What a player he is by the way, oh my word, he could be one of the best strikers in the world.

Hugo Ekitike has scored 11 goals in 25 Premier League appearances for Liverpool this season (Getty)

‘I know we’ve got [Erling] Haaland but I think he’s got one of the most complete games, and the one thing I think all the top players need is confidence and belief, and he has.

‘Every time he steps on the pitch you can tell he’s like, ‘give me the ball, I’m going to create something’. And today [against West Ham ], again, every time he touches the ball something special happens.

‘He makes it look so easy with everything. He’s got size, he’s got skill, he’s got technique, he’s got awareness, always in the right place at the right time, technically he’s top and he’s got this confidence which I think is infectious.’

Owen Hargreaves is backing Liverpool to finish ahead of Chelsea in the race for a Champions League place (AP)

Hargreaves also believes Liverpool will secure a Champions League place ahead of Chelsea this season.

Asked if Liverpool will finish in the top five in the Premier League , Hargreaves said: ‘I think they will.

‘I think the difficulty for Chelsea is they have a really young team, they don’t have the experience that I think Liverpool have.

‘They’ve [Chelsea] probably got the hardest run of fixtures, if you look at Chelsea’s fixtures, if they’re going to get into it they’ve really got it earn it, Chelsea.’