Liverpool fans who watched the club’s training content on Friday will have noticed one academy starlet in amongst the glittering collection of seasoned first-team names.
As Arne Slot’s squad gear up for tonight’s Premier League clash against Aston Villa, a certain Rio Ngumoha was spotted partaking in the session alongside the Mo Salahs and Virgil van Dijks of this world.
The winger only turned 16 in August but it attests to how highly he’s regarded by the Reds that they were prepared to jump through several administrative hurdles to complete his transfer from Chelsea during the summer.
Ngumoha trains with Liverpool first team
Lewis Bower, who provides independent coverage of Liverpool’s academy teams, posted a photo to X on Friday which shows Ngumoha training with the first team.
The 16-year-old can be seen duelling with fellow rising star Trey Nyoni – who has made a couple of senior Reds appearances – and the familiar face of Dominik Szoboszlai.
Liverpool have very high hopes for Ngumoha
Having yet to even play at under-21 level, we can assume that Ngumoha was included in Liverpool first-team training purely from a developmental point of view and that his matchday involvement this weekend will be with the under-18s against Stoke rather than the senior side against Villa.
However, his mere inclusion in Friday’s session hints at how highly he’s rated on Merseyside – Fabrizio Romano has said in recent weeks that the 16-year-old is a ‘sensational’ talent who Reds chiefs ‘are in love with’.
The ex-Chelsea starlet caught the eye again in midweek with a superb assist for Keyrol Figueroa as LFC’s under-19s came from behind to defeat Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Youth League.
Ngumoha’s move to Liverpool has infuriated the west London club to such an extent that a tribunal is set to be called to determine the eventual compensation fee for the transfer.
His involvement with the Reds’ first-team training is another positive step in the hugely promising career of this much-vaunted wonderkid. A senior debut might still be some way off, but so long as he can avoid any major setbacks, it seems inevitable that he’ll get that opportunity at some point.
