Written by Mark Strickland
Earlier this month, Liverpool confirmed the addition of another promising talent to their burgeoning academy after successfully convincing Rio Ngumoha to make the move from Chelsea to Merseyside, following in the footsteps of the likes of Amra Nallo, Trey Nyoni and Alvin Ayman who have all made similar switches in recent times.
The 2008-born forward arrived at The Reds with an outstanding reputation amongst those who know the academy system and having shone for England at youth level.
To find out more about the young attacker, we spoke exclusively to Saul Isaksson-Hurst who worked with Ngumoha at Chelsea’s Cobham academy.
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Isaksson-Hurt said: “He is an unbelievable talent. (He has an) unbelievable mindset and mentality. He wants to be the best.
“He is one of the best academy talents I have ever seen, and you have got to bear in mind in my first season (at Chelsea) I had Jamal Musiala in my squad, a very talented squad (which also included) Tino Livramento and Levi Colwill,” said Isaksson-Hurst.
The Reds’ U18 coach, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, introduced Ngumoha in the 74th minute for his debut at home to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
Immediately, he impacted the game. He beat his right full-back and then delivered a left-footed cross that eventually reached fellow substitute Joe Bradshaw whose prodded effort was blocked.
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“If you talk about 1-v-1 ability … I haven’t seen much better than that,” said Isaksson-Hurst.
Liverpool would go on to lose 2-0 at the hands of Blackburn rovers at the AXA, but Ngumoha still shone.
“I remember going away to the tournaments in Europe with that Chelsea (youth) team and not doing that well, but he would still win player of the tournament against your Barcelona, your Ajax. To win a player of the tournament when you’re not winning a tournament, you’ve got to be a special player.
“Liverpool are very lucky.” Isaksson-Hurst added.
Ngumoha appeared again as a substitute with a quarter of the game remaining away to Milan in the UEFA Youth League yesterday. The U19s, captained by Trey Nyoni, opened their European campaign with a respectable goalless draw.
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The early signs are promising. The academy continues to produce exciting players looking to follow in the footsteps of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones.
With the senior squad comprising only 24 players after many permanent departures and loan moves on transfer deadline day, his chance in the first team may come sooner rather than later.
Indeed, look no further than Nyoni. He featured in all three of the Reds’ victories on the pre-season tour of the USA and scored a Thiago-esque volley in the penultimate friendly at Anfield against Sevilla.
