Liverpool’s pre-season is officially over, with Sunday’s Community Shield against Crystal Palace signalling the start of the new campaign.
As usual, plenty was learnt during the summer friendlies, as the Reds embarked on a tour of Hong Kong and Japan.
With no summer international tournament to speak of this year, Arne Slot was able to call upon the majority of his Liverpool squad right from the first day of training.
In amongst that, several young players still managed to stand out, though. And none shone brighter than 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha.
Ngumoha scored three times during pre-season, with a memorable strike against Athletic Bilbao just two minutes into Monday night’s game at Anfield underlining his potential.
There has been plenty of hype over Ngumoha, and a feeling that he could play a big part in the coming season. But speaking ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield, Slot was keen to keep feet on the ground.
Rio Ngumoha slides on his knees in celebration after scoring against Athletic Bilbao at Anfield in pre-season
Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Arne Slot pleads patience with Rio Ngumoha
There are two reasons why Liverpool supporters are getting truly excited over Ngumoha. The first is his obvious quality. It is rare to see someone so young look so accomplished.
But the second is arguably more important, in that after the sales of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, there is a genuine gap opening for Ngumoha in the first team.
MORE LIVERPOOL STORIES
Speaking to Men In Blazers, however, Slot pleaded patience with the former Chelsea youngster, suggesting that Ngumoha will not be thrown in until he is truly ready.
“Rio had a good pre-season, it took him a while to adapt, which is quite normal if you are 16-years-old, to adapt to the level the first team train at,” said the Liverpool head coach.
“He used last season to be with us once in a while and in pre-season now he’s done really well, brings in the quality he has, not afraid to take a one-v-one on, making the right decisions if he feels his teammate is in a better position than him.
“I know how hard it is for 20 year olds, 25 year olds, 30 year olds to play every three days at this level,” Slot added.
“This is something we need to give him time for as well. At this moment in time he’s not a regular starter, but for him to train every single day at this level is going to be really hard and tough, so let’s give him some time to adapt to everything, but he’s definitely had a promising start to this season.”
How many games will Ngumoha play?
It is easy to get carried away with young players who come in and have an impact in pre-season. Ngumoha has been ‘explosive‘ and that is naturally exciting to see.
However, a good comparison is in Trey Nyoni’s impact last summer. Although he was not as much of a standout as Ngumoha has been this year, Nyoni was really impressive throughout the friendlies.
Once the season came around, some supporters had expected that the midfielder would be involved a decent amount. But, in the end, Nyoni played only five times, with two starts in the Carabao Cup and a Champions League dead rubber.
For Ngumoha, the chances to play may be more given the position he occupies. But it would be a surprise if he reaches too far into double figures.
A lot obviously depends on what Liverpool do in the transfer market and then the state of the season, but as things stand right now, a marker of around 15 games may be a decent target for Ngumoha.