Liverpool beat Newcastle on Monday night, and all of the headlines were stolen by one player at the end of the game.
Indeed, Rio Ngumoha scored with almost the last kick of the game at St James’ Park on Monday as he introduced himself to the Premier League with some style.
Ngumoha has earned tons of praise since his goal, and speaking on Hawksbee and Jacobs, John Barnes has shared his verdict on this young man.
Barnes made an interesting comparison regarding Ngumoha, claiming that he sees the youngster as similar to Raheem Sterling in terms of how they broke into the Liverpool team.
Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha celebrates scoring against Newcastle United
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
John Barnes compares Rio Ngumoha to Raheem Sterling
Barnes spoke about Ngumoha after his incredible Premier League debut.
The Liverpool legend compared the young attacker to Raheem Sterling, noting that they both came in with a similar plan that is now being executed in Ngumoha’s case.
“Well, you know, similar to Raheem, certainly when they first came. He’s not come here to go out on loan. He’s come here as a 15 year old, where we get to really not to go out on loan,” Barnes said.
“He’s come here not necessarily to go to the first team at 16, which we didn’t expect, but to be nurtured, to be a, you know, players have been at Liverpool from their 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, they’re now 16, they go out on loan.
“He’s come to Liverpool at his age, as a young teenager, as did Raheem, to really just go straight into the first team fold without necessarily being thrust into the action. And I’m sure that he would rather not have brought him on under those circumstances, but he handled it with aplomb.”
Raheem Sterling has advised Rio Ngumoha
Barnes compared Ngumoha to Sterling, and that is an interesting comparison given that Sterling has helped Ngumoha in the past.
Indeed, these two were both on the books at Chelsea at the same time, and Ngumoha has previously spoken about the fact he’s received advice from Sterling in the past.
“He has been top. I remember one time, he pulled me to the side and told me ‘when you lose the ball, make sure you stay in the game,’” Ngumoha said.
“This is because at the top level, everything happens so fast so you have to be on it to do your thing.
“It made me feel like I can do what he has done. He is telling me that he can see what I am good at, from someone like Raheem, I was like ‘wow.’”
Ngumoha looks like a star in the making, and there’s plenty of reason to be excited about this young man’s potential.