Protecting Rio
Everyone wants Rio Ngumoha to play more but Liverpool have a duty of care to the youngster. What does history tell us about young stars who burst onto the scene?
If you’ve seen Rio Ngumoha play, you want to see him play more. He seems to lift Liverpool every time he is on the pitch. This was set in stone when he scored a 100th minute winner at Newcastle last August.
Think also of the two other league matches in which stoppage time goals have earned victories for Liverpool this season. Ngumoha came on in the 87th minute at Burnley to set up what was only the Reds’ third shot on target of the match.
There was a similar outcome against Nottingham Forest, in that the 17-year-old could easily have set up the winner for Hugo Ekitike. Even when less impactful against West Ham, his six touches included a shot on target, a key pass and a tackle in the final third. Ngumoha is impact incarnate.
His sample size is miniscule so ultimately of no significance but he possesses the best expected assists per 90 minutes average in the 2025/26 Premier League. He has made things happen in the few opportunities he has had to impress.
Jamie Carragher called for the young man to feature more regularly following his City Ground cameo. “Ngumoha did more in 15 minutes than [Mohamed] Salah and [Cody] Gakpo did before that. He changed the game and needs to be starting games,” he said.
Arne Slot has inevitably had to field questions about whether his young winger should be featuring more. “His playing time has improved massively over the last few weeks and the reason for that is because he developed, he became a better player,” he said recently.
The challenge when managing younger footballers is balancing their need to play with protecting their long term future. Ngumoha sits 12th in the modern era for minutes played for Liverpool before turning 18. He should pass Steven Gerrard before the season is out, probably by the end of this week.
A more recent name on the list offers a warning. Stefan Bajčetić clocked up exactly 1,000 minutes before officially becoming a man. He has added just 56 more for the Reds in the three years since, with injuries blighting his progress.
Look at the absurd minutes total accumulated by Michael Owen though. He’s in Liverpool’s top 10 players for minutes accumulated by their 21st birthdays with this playing time alone. The later cost of this was clear. By the time he left for Madrid at the end of his age 23 season, Owen had played what would prove to be almost 71 per cent of his career club minutes.
As an extreme an example as he may be, the potential pitfalls with overplaying young talent are obvious. At the same time, could Slot use Ngumoha more often than he has without running him into the ground? Raheem Sterling, the next man on the Liverpool list, is an interesting point for comparison.
