There was vindication as well as a place in the Liverpool history books for Rio Ngumoha with the ice-cool finish he swept past Nick Pope at St James’ Park on Monday. The 16-year-old has announced himself on the Premier League stage, as every one of his coaches predicted he would, though it is debatable his name would have registered so quickly without a bold decision taken a year ago.
Ngumoha was considered one of the brightest English prospects in the Premier League academy system when he stunned Chelsea last summer by leaving for Liverpool. If it was a wrench to leave the club he had joined aged eight, and for a Newham-born boy to leave London days after his 16th birthday, then the clearer route to first-team football that Ngumoha envisaged at Liverpool was compensation. Monday’s dramatic 100th-minute winner at Newcastle, when the teenager replaced Ben Woodburn as the youngest goalscorer in Liverpool’s history, aged 16 years and 361 days, justified that call.
Chelsea made several contract offers to Ngumoha and were so miffed when he left that they sought to guard against future poaching by banning Liverpool’s scouts from attending academy matches at their training ground. It is understood that terse words were exchanged at executive level.
Chelsea knew what they were losing. “This boy is and will be a top player,” the club’s former captain John Terry said. For Ngumoha, it came down to pathways. Chelsea have hoovered up some of the best young talent in the world. Would there be opportunities for him? Enzo Maresca gave a debut to the 16-year-old midfielder Reggie Walsh last season but competition for places is fierce. Chelsea, after all, have just added the 18-year-old Brazilian winger Estêvão Willian to their squad and will bring in the Portuguese winger Geovany Quenda from Sporting Lisbon next summer, when he will be 19.
“A good player who needed to leave,” one source said. “He’s a lovely kid but he’d be playing youth football at Chelsea this season.”
Sources with knowledge of youth football believe Ngumoha was right to leave. One figure, who expects him to rise to the top, says Ngumoha was regarded at Chelsea as less talented than Tyrique George had been at the same age. George, 19, broke into Chelsea’s first team last season but is likely to be sold before the window closes on Monday. There is a sense the winger’s game time at Chelsea has turned him into an asset and that Liverpool focus more on a player’s talent and less on how much could be made from selling them.
Ngumoha’s career is on fast-forward. He is not eligible to sign the first professional contract of his career until Friday, when he turns 17. At Liverpool he was immediately thrust into the under-18s. He impressed, and earned promotion to the under-21s, where the coach Barry Lewtas worked on improving Ngumoha’s end product and teamwork. There was also a full debut for Arne Slot’s senior side in January when he started the FA Cup third-round win against Accrington Stanley at Anfield.
Ngumoha announced himself at a Premier League and global level on Monday but Liverpool fans became well acquainted with his precocious talents in pre-season. He stepped up seamlessly, scoring fine individual goals against Yokohama F Marinos and Athletic Bilbao while catching the eye with his pace, technique and improved awareness. He presented a strong argument for the champions not signing a direct replacement for Luis Díaz long before he increased Newcastle’s torment at Liverpool’s hands.
Ngumoha’s willingness to learn is a recurring theme among his coaches, from academy level to Slot, who had no hesitation in giving first-team squad places to Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni after their impressive summers.
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Terry Bobie, Ngumoha’s former youth coach at Chelsea, has credited the player’s older brother James as a key influence. “I’d start at four o’clock in the afternoon and finish at eight in the evening,” Bobie said. “Rio would be there the whole time with his brother. What stood out was how demanding James was with him. They argued at times, but it always came from the right place. James saw Rio’s talent and wanted to push him to reach his potential. They worked relentlessly. Not many people saw that side of it, but it was every single day for years – week in, week out, day in, day out.”
Ngumoha’s receptiveness to new ideas and his grounded character were evident in a post-match interview with LFCTV on Monday. The adrenalin was still clearly flowing after an incredible finale at St James’ that carried the hallmark of champions, but he did not get swept along in the moment.
“Normally, last season especially, the academy coaches and even the first-team coaches are always saying: ‘Make the back post, make the back post.’ The fact that I made the back post is just crazy,” said Ngumoha of the goal that made him the first 16-year-old to score a Premier League winner since Wayne Rooney for Everton against Arsenal in 2002.
“The fans, I heard them screaming my name and that’s a sensational moment I would say. But you can’t get too carried away with all the noise because I probably do that finish 100 times on the training ground so it’s no different with the fans [present]. I’m 16 but I don’t want my age to show that I can’t play with the older players. I want to prove a point that I can play with not just people my age but many ages above. There are people at the club who are always helping me and I’m always learning and improving, so I can’t complain.” But Chelsea might.