Football
Exclusive: Liverpool Keen to Extend Rio Ngumoha’s Deal as Rivals Circle
Liverpool are keen to tie down 16-year-old winger Rio Ngumoha to a new deal amid growing interest from top Premier League and European clubs. The youngster impressed in pre-season and is seen as a major talent, with the Reds eager to extend his contract before it expires next June.
Yokohama F•Marinos v Liverpool - MEIJI YASUDA J.LEAGUE World Challenge 2025 Presented By The Nippon Foundation by Hiroki Watanabe | Getty Images
Premier League champions Liverpool are hoping to tie hot prospect Rio Ngumoha to a new deal, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.
The highly rated teenage winger has been watched by a string of top clubs including Manchester United, Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur.
And a couple of top European clubs have also been monitoring his progress since making his debut last season for the Merseyside club.
But the Anfield outfit believe the 16-year-old young gun has a bright future and are keen to get him to sign a new deal.
Ngumoha started his fledgling career with the club and is under contract until June next year.
And our sources have learnt Liverpool are keen to extend Ngumoha’s stay sooner rather than later and risk a rival club pouncing to try and sign him.
Ngumoha was the player many people were talking about after a fine showing for the Reds in a 3-1 pre-season victory over Yokohama F Marinos in Tokyo.
He scored in the game and performed at a very high level for someone of his age.
Last season the winger started against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup third round, but despite a decent display in a comfortable 4-0 win, Ngumoha played the rest of the season for Liverpool Under-21s.
And he knows he has work cut out to force his way into the Reds’ first team, especially with a raft of new summer signings.
REAL TALENT
But Liverpool see Ngumoha as a real talent for the future and boss Arne Slot has been impressed with the growing maturity of the teenager and his fearless approach.
Liverpool ruffled feathers last summer when then prized Ngumoha away from Premier League rivals Chelsea and he has quickly settled into life in the North West of England.
"Rio again showed the quality he has and that's nice for us because we have a lot of very good players," Slot said after his side overcame Yokohama FM 3-1, with Ngumoha scoring the third goal.
"It's always nice to see young players from 16, 17 or 18 years old already impacting a game. If you are 16 and you can impact the game like he did, that's definitely worth a compliment."
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.