This summer, 23-year-old Ekitic joined Liverpool from Frankfurt, with his transfer fee of up to 79 million pounds. In an interview with Liverpool Echo, Ekitic talked about topics such as adaptation at Liverpool, the upcoming Merseyside derby.
Regarding the help of fellow countryman Connate to himself
To be honest, I think the person who is most important to me after joining Liverpool is Connate, who knows everything and things about Liverpool. He helped me a lot in everything on the court. Other players gave me a lot of help on the court, such as cooperating with each other, finding my position through tandem, etc. But, Conat is very important to me. I am very proud to be here.
About joining Liverpool
When you know where I come from, it's obviously a wonderful feeling for me and my family. The intensity here is very high, both on and off the court. I have trained a lot more in the gym than before, and there are professional physical coaches here to help me. As far as pure football is concerned, I'm just playing my game well. I have a lot of great players around me, which makes it easy.
I want to keep moving forward, do more for the club and be successful. I didn't know Liverpool's fan base before, but their enthusiasm is really great and I can feel their love for me. They gave me a lot of love and I want to repay them. When a player is full of confidence, he can do a great job. Other players also helped me integrate into the team, and I quickly found my own home at the training base.
About Merseyside Derby
I can't lie, I just watched some game videos on YouTube and they played fiercely on the court, so I knew it would be a dangerous game. Such a game was exciting because when I came here they immediately told me about the importance of the Merseyside derby, Liverpool's match against Everton is very important here.
I know that you need to be mentally prepared for this kind of game, you are on the court to win. We are in this game just to win, we have to beat them, but it will be a tough game. We need to be ready for this fight on Saturday, which will be a very tough game, but I think we will be ready.
About my idol
I really like it... Ronaldo was the first player I went to watch the game, and there were also Rooney and Torres, who used to watch their games often.