Liverpool have rewarded Rio for his progress at the club with a first professional contract, reports liverpoolecho.co.uk. The winger only turned 17 last month and has now penned terms with the club he joined from Chelsea in the summer of 2024.
Ngumoha has risen to the first-team ranks since making his debut for the club in a UEFA Youth League draw with AC Milan 12 months ago. He was handed his first senior outing in an FA Cup win over Accrington in January.
It was this summer though that has seen the former Chelsea teenager start to nail down a spot in the senior squad. A hugely productive pre-season campaign under Arne Slot saw him score three times, against Stoke City, Yokohama F Marinos and Athletic Club, before he was given his Premier League debut last month, which came in the dramatic 3-2 victory at Newcastle United.
The England Under-19 became the youngest scorer in the Reds’ history that night when he netted a 100th-minute winner against the Magpies at the age of 16 years and 361 days.
A first appearance in the Champions League came in the 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid on September 17 before a first start of the the season came on Tuesday night in the 2-1 triumph against Southampton in the Carabao Cup.
Such has been Ngumoha’s ascent that the club view him as a senior option in Slot’s squad, providing competition for Cody Gakpo on the left side of the attack in a star-studded frontline department that also contains Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa.
Salah, who finished fourth in this year’s Ballon d’Or rankings, spoke about the advice he had given Ngumoha following his incredible strike at Newcastle.
“He’s still so young,” Salah told Men in Blazers Media Network. “I told him after the (Newcastle) game: ‘Just leave the social media alone’.
“Okay, you can be happy about the goal with your family, with your friends. Enjoy the moment to the max because it’s like your first moments in football.
“But don’t really get engaged and just get your appreciation from the outside world because it’s always going to be fake.
“You’re going to always try to seek that – that feeling from outside if you just get the appreciation from outside.
“So what future is waiting for him depends how he’s going to handle the situation. How are we going to work? I need to work hard and just stay humble because he’s very young.
“I told him that some players peak too early and they’re going to struggle after that.
“I really wish him the best. He has a good group and we always try to speak with him – and the manager also speaks to him, so he just needs to stay humble and work and we will see.”
