Rio Ngumoha has struggled for regular minutes this seasonplaceholder image
Rio Ngumoha has struggled for regular minutes this season | Getty Images
The highly-rated prospect has racked up just 48 minutes of top-flight football this season
Former Liverpool forward John Aldridge, who was once given the challenging task of replacing Ian Rush at Anfield, has urged manager Arne Slot to give Rio Ngumoha more first team minutes so he can show fans what he’s capable of.
It made him the club’s youngeyst goalscorer in history and earmarked him as one to watch as he also became the player to score Liverpool’s latest ever winning goal in a Premier League contest.
Prior to the season starting, the 17-year-old, who was born more than a year after Fernando Torres signed for Liverpool, had established himself as an England Under-19 international and a real star at reserve team level. Many felt the Newcastle goal would be a springboard for plenty of first team minutes but that so far hasn’t been the case.
Aldridge urges Liverpool to unleash Ngumoha
Despite the departures of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott as well as persistent injuries to club-record signing Alexander Isak, Ngumoha has barely had a look-in at Liverpool.
He’s yet to start a top-flight match and has only played 48 Premier League minutes this season. He’s had one 16-minute cameo in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid and has only been trusted to start in the Carabao Cup against Southampton and Crystal Palace.
Ngumoha has only came on from the subs bench in one of Liverpool’s last eight league matches as Slot continues to develop the England Under-19 international. However, Alrdridge believes Ngumoha should be given more minutes while even making comparisons to the likes of Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen in the process.
He wrote in the Liverpool Echo: “We’re too predictable and easy to play against. Rio Ngumoha is one of those players, if you bring him on for 15 minutes, teams don’t know how to play against him.
“What he does, no-one knows. He probably doesn’t even know. He’s unpredictable. He has pace and trickery and can hurt teams. Gerrard, Rooney, Owen, Fowler, they all played at that age. Maybe Arne is trying to protect him by using him sparingly. We’ve not seen much of him this season but if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. I would like to see him used more.”
Is Ngumoha ready for the Premier League?
Liverpool took an enormous risk in the summer when they chose to focus their attention on bringing in two marquee striker signings in Isak and Ekitike to lead the line.
They opted not to replace Diaz after his exit to Bayern Munich, leaving Gakpo as the only natural left-sided senior player although Florian Wirtz is capable of playing there. That was largely viewed as a sign of just how much trust Slot had in Ngumoha after a productive pre-season, but so far the minutes have not materialised for the youngster.
Ultimately, Liverpool face a decision on whether to integrate Ngumoha into the team or sign a winger in January to perhaps allow the 17-year-old to go out and get regular minutes on loan elsewhere.
Ngumoha has not had much time to showcase his qualities at Liverpool this season, so only Slot will know truly where the youngster is in terms of development. However, based on his few outings this season it seems like Liverpool should be using the youngster more even if it’s just a late substitute to try and make things happen in offensive areas.
Continue Reading