Preferred over Federico Chiesa, Rio Ngumoha made his debut with Liverpool this Saturday, in the FA Cup, at just 16 years and 135 days old. One more step in the progression of this great English hope debauched at Chelsea.
What were you doing at 16? Rio Ngumoha makes history. Starting this Saturday against Accrington Stanley for the third round of the FA Cup, the Englishman became the second youngest player in history to start a match with Liverpool.
At 16 years and 135 days, he is just ahead of Jerome Sinclair, who was 16 years and 6 days when he made his first appearance for the Reds one evening in September 2012 in the League Cup. The latter, once presented by the English media as “the new Michael Owen”, did not really have the career he hoped for since he had a series of unsuccessful loans, before hanging up his boots in 2021 after a last failed experience in Bulgaria.
Slot preferred him to Chiesa
Rio Ngumoha is instead hoping to take inspiration from his teammate Harvey Elliott, who was 16 years and 174 days old at the time of his debut for Liverpool in 2019. Arriving in September from the Chelsea academy, the young left winger, formidable in one -on-one, would have made a strong impression on Arne Slot during several training sessions, to the point of winning his place for this FA Cup match. The England U17 international was even preferred for the occasion to… Federico Chiesa, who has had to make do with crumbs since his signing this summer from Juve.
“Rio is one of those young people who works very well. As long as they continue like this, their chances of joining us in the first team will definitely increase,” commented Arne Slot before this meeting against Accrington, residents of D4. At the heart of a busy schedule, he was able to take the opportunity to carry out a large staff review. His team led 2-0 at the break thanks to Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
