Liverpool teenager Rio Ngumoha has attracted plenty of attention in pre-season, with Arsenal’s own wonderkid Max Dowman one of those impressed by the emerging talent.
The 16-year-old started in Liverpool’s first of two friendlies against Athletic Club on Monday and made an immediate impression.
Picking up the ball in midfield, the teenager drove forward and produced a brilliant finish from the edge of the penalty box to open the scoring within two minutes.
Before five minutes were on the clock at Anfield, the England Under-17 international had also chalked up an assist for Darwin Nunez who scored Liverpool’s second.
It is not the first time the young forward has been involved this summer, starting against AC Milan and coming off the bench to score against Yokohama FM on the pre-season tour of Asia, with Slot clearly a big fan of his work.
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The Reds won both games on Monday, the first 4-1 and the second 3-2, and speaking after the pair of victories, Slot said of Ngumoha: ‘Rio is showing good things every time in pre-season.’
15-year-old Dowman, who has attracted plenty of attention himself during Arsenal’s pre-season, knows Ngumoha from England youth team duty and commented on his latest performance.
The Gunners prospect posted a picture of the Reds talent celebrating his goal, with the simple caption: ‘The coldest.’
Slot already showed his faith in Ngumoha last season when he handed him his professional debut in the starting XI as Liverpool beat Accrington Stanley 4-0 in the FA Cup in January.
That saw the London-born prospect become the second youngest Liverpool player in history (behind Jerome Sinclair) and the youngest to ever start a first team game at 16 years, 135 days.
Ngumoha actually came through the youth ranks at Chelsea and only joined Liverpool last year.
The Blues were so annoyed that the youngster had been tempted away to Anfield that they banned Liverpool scouts from attending matches at training base Cobham.
On leaving London, Chelsea legend John Terry lamented: ‘This boy is and will be a top top player.’
The teenager started on the left wing on Monday and will hope to get more opportunities when the season gets underway, but clearly has a lot of competition in Liverpool’s forward line.
New signings Huko Ekitike and Florian Wirtz both started the second game against Athletic Club on Monday, alongside Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo.
However, with Luis Diaz leaving for Bayern Munich and the tragic death of Diogo Jota last month, the 16-year-old may be handed a Premier League debut sooner rather than later.
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