In a summer where Liverpool seem determined to finance the entire transfer market, the best addition to Arne Slot’s squad may have come from the club’s academy.
Forget Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and the inevitable arrival of Alexander Isak. The name on everybody’s lips on the club’s pre-season tour of Singapore is Rio Ngumoha.
In a world where even Mohamed Salah cannot beat the passage of time, the 17-year-old Ngumoha is the strongest indication yet that the sky won’t cave in when the Egyptian finally leaves.
Full of fancy flicks and more tricks than a payday loan form written by Paul Daniels, Ngumoha is one of the few academy players to have been taken to Asia by Arne Slot.
The hype around Ngumoha – already an emerging talent in the England youth setup – is growing and his performance against AC Milan will do nothing to dampen the excitement.
The 17-year-old completed the most dribbles (three) and won the most duels (four) throughout the first half.
Running at the Milan defence with intent and purpose, the attacker left his opponents needing emergency blood transfusions with his sheer relentlessness.
And the Liverpool equaliser came directly from this.
Chasing down a long pass, with former Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori in close pursuit, Ngumoha barely broke sweat despite the searing humidity in the stadium.
Baiting Tomori with several stepovers, the youngster shot past the England international before sending him for a bowl of Singapore noodles with a devastating cut back.
His eventual cross was blocked, but Ngumoha had the presence of mind to cut the ball back to Dominik Szoboszlai to bend an unstoppable shot past Mike Maignan to make it 1-1.
What I love most about Rio Ngumoha’s game is the balance he finds, at age 16, between the killer 1v1 mentality and the calculated decision making in the midst of his aggressive drives. Love him so much.pic.twitter.com/UQjaUwCDMC
— hT 🇵🇸 (@half_turn) July 26, 2025
Although Ngumoha started his career with Chelsea, Liverpool swooped in and prised him away from Stamford Bridge and added the attacker to their own academy.
And now, while speaking to Liverpool’s official website, Ngumoha gave his thoughts on what it’s actually like to play with Salah on a regular basis.
“They really help the young players – especially me, Trey (Nyoni). They help us really settle in,” he said.
“(Mohamed) Salah was one of my role models growing up obviously, so it’s really big (to be) learning from him.”
Although Ngumoha is still some way away from being a regular starter at Anfield, there’s no reason why he couldn’t be used in the early rounds of the cup competitions.
He played in the FA Cup match against Accrington Stanley last year, showing just how much faith Arne Slot has in the young prodigy.
Liverpool have already spent close to £300million on improving their squad this summer.
If several players such as Federico Chiesa and Luis Diaz do end up leaving, it’s hard to see how they’d source enough money to bring replacements in.
But, if things go the way that Liverpool wish, Ngumoha could be their sixth or seventh choice attacker next term.
With all the focus on Liverpool’s eye-watering summer spend, which will flirt with £500million if Isak arrives, Nguomha’s arrival on the scene will enthuse both the club’s fans and bean-counters.
By Michael Lee
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