Many of calling for the teenager to be given more starts for Liverpool, but Arne Slot is doing the right thing by him
05:00, 02 Mar 2026
Rio Ngumoha has made many fleeting cameos off the bench this season(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Over the past decade or so, Manchester City has not only established itself as the most dominant force in Premier League football, but it has also been recognised for its powerhouse academy.
In investing millions into its junior system, it is not alone. Far from it. But no money or attention is spared in identifying elite young talent, whether local or imported from far and wide.
Yet coming through the City ranks and getting frequent starts as a first-teamer while still in your teenage years is not easy. You can certainly get a look-in, as players such as Rico Lewis and Nico O’Reilly have proven in recent seasons. But it is tough. How it should be. Even when everyone in football knows you are expected to be a world-beater, it can be difficult.
Phil Foden was the prime example. Long before his 17th birthday, it was an open secret that Foden was very, very special. But between that 17th birthday and his 18th birthday, Pep Guardiola gave Foden only 44 minutes of Premier League football.
Guardiola ignored the clamour to hand him a Premier League start until Foden was less than two months short of his 19th birthday.
Rio Ngumoha does not turn 18 for another six months and he has had 103 minutes of Premier League football, none of them from the start.
With Mohamed Salah’s scratchiness continuing, suggestions from fans and pundits that Arne Slot should consider starting Ngumoha in a Premier League fixture are becoming more common. But Slot will ignore them. And rightly so.
Foden and Ngumoha are very different players in terms of the attributes they bring to the game. But when Foden was the age of Ngumoha, his physique was not too dissimilar to the young man recruited from Chelsea.
The Premier League is a physically imposing environment, especially when the first whistle has not long gone.
Which is surely why Slot will not start Ngumoha in a Premier League game any time soon.
Several teenagers are making an impact in the Premier League but others are being managed very carefully and used sparingly.
After making such an early impact, Arsenal’s two 19-year-old stars, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, have not played big parts in their Premier League campaign.
Nwaneri is on loan at Marseille while Lewis-Skelly has started only one Premier League match.
The elite end of the Premier League is a tough country for young men. And that is why Slot and Liverpool must handle Ngumoha carefully.
Yes, supporters might want to see more of such a precociously talented player, but right now, the role of impact substitute is a perfect fit for Ngumoha.
The stronger, more athletic opponents, in their mid-20s, have lost their physical advantage over a wispy teenager when they have been through an hour and a quarter of hard graft.
That was the case during Ngumoha’s cameo at Nottingham Forest and during his cameo against West Ham at Anfield.
Slot has defended his deployment of Ngumoha, reminding people the attacker – who has made 10 appearances as a Premier League substitute – has featured in the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup.
But Slot does not need to defend his deployment of Ngumoha, because special talent requires ultra-careful development. Just ask Pep.
