The 16-year-old has lit up Liverpool’s pre-season and is being backed to break into the first team this year
It is quite the statement to say that, amid a £269m outlay to bring in players with the quality of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Hugo Ekitike, Liverpool’s most exciting prospect this season comes in the form of a developing teenage striker.
Yet that is the building hype concerning 16-year-old forward Rio Ngumoha and the quality his possesses at such a young age. Then again, hype is one thing but performing on the pitch is another and in this arena Ngumoha is showing why football fans are getting excited about his future.
On Monday 4 August, Liverpool played two pre-season games against Athletic Bilbao at Anfield. The games had different starting XIs with a mix of senior players and potential first team starters combining with fringe members of the squad in order to give Arne Slot a better feel for how his players are coping ahead of the start of the new season.
Ngumoha was handed a starting place in the first match and got the watching supporters on their feet before the ground was even full. Alexis MacAllister slipped the ball forward after winning possession in the centre circle and found the run of Ngumoha. The teenager dribbled into the box and only had eyes for goal as he slotted his effort into the bottom corner with less than two minutes on the clock.
Three minutes later, Ngumoha drove forward again and rolled a pass into the feet of Darwin Nunez who doubled Liverpool’s lead with a close range finish. The fans erupted in chants of ‘Rio, Rio, Rio’ making their excitable feelings about Liverpool’s latest starlet well known and doing nothing to quell the hype around a player yet to make his Premier League debut.
A striker of Nigerian heritage suited to dribbling and cutting in from the left wing, Liverpool realised Ngumoha’s potential a year ago and brought him to Anfield after the teenager had come through the academy at Chelsea. He spent eight years in London and the switch to Liverpool caused some tensions between the clubs. The Daily Mail reported at the time that Chelsea were angry about Liverpool poaching a ‘generational talent’ and the Blues took Liverpool to a tribunal over the move in a bid to secure a compensation fee. The outcome of that tribunal has not been disclosed.
Arne Slot, in his first year in charge at Anfield, also recognised that Ngumoha had the potential to succeed at the highest level and named him in Liverpool’s matchday squad for a League Cup clash with Southampton in December 2024. He didn’t play in that match but in January 2025 Ngumoha made his professional debut for the club, starting in Liverpool's 4-0 win against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup.
That appearance, at 16 years and 135 days old, made him the youngest Liverpool player to appear in the FA Cup and the youngest player to start a first-team game in the club's history.
If 2024/25 only hinted at the rising potential of Ngumoha then this summer’s pre-season has put him on a trajectory straight to the Liverpool first team.
The Reds went on a tour of Asia and played matches against AC Milan and Yokohama F. Marinos with Ngumoha influential in both games. Liverpool lost 4-2 to Milan but the teenager provided an assist from his position on the left wing before netting in the 87th minute in a 3-1 triumph over Marinos.
Slot, perhaps rightly, tried to play down Ngumoha’s impact as the youngster is still learning but with each striking performance that is becoming more difficult.
Speaking after the Marinos win Slot said: "We’ve only played two games over here and we haven’t played against Premier League opponents yet, but I see him train, I see him play, and the impact he has when he trains and plays is really promising.
"Playing in the Premier League, playing every three days with the Champions League games in between, that’s something else.
"But he’s definitely a player who shows that if he keeps bringing these performances in, it definitely won’t be the last time he plays a few minutes for Liverpool. It’s all about consistency. He needs to show it every single day we’re on the pitch."
Slot added: "Rio is showing things every time in pre-season."
For Ngumoha, who turns 17 later this month, breaking into the Liverpool first team is the current aim but he won’t hurry his development.
"I'm not trying to rush because I'm still only young," said Ngumoha, "But at the same time, I just want to show the manager what I can do and not get too complacent. I just want to do bigger and better things for me and the club."
Category: General Sports
