Arne Slot’s post-match praise for 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha underlined a growing selection dilemma for Liverpool after a last-gasp win over Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n
An Argentine substitute ultimately produced the stoppage-time intervention that secured three points for the defending English champions, but it was Ngumoha\u2019s brief cameo that dominated the conversation. The teenager required just 12 minutes on the pitch to fashion Liverpool\u2019s best opening, cutting in from the right flank and combining with Mohamed Salah before delivering a cross that found Hugo Ekitik\u00e9. The chance did not result in a goal, yet it amplified the sense that Ngumoha is ready for regular involvement.<\/p>\n
Slot was unequivocal about the youngster\u2019s ceiling. “He has incredible potential, otherwise, at 17 years of age, you don\u2019t play as many minutes as he does in the Premier League, let alone at Liverpool,” he said. “I don\u2019t think there is any other 17-year-old who has played as many minutes in the Premier League as he did.<\/p>\n
“That tells you how much of a talent he is and we think he is. He is making progress more and more and that\u2019s why you see him playing more and more.” <\/p>\n
Ngumoha has appeared 15 times for Liverpool this season, including nine outings in the Premier League. He opened his campaign by scoring the match-winner in a 3\u20132 victory over Newcastle United in August, becoming the youngest Premier League goalscorer in the club\u2019s history. His minutes in cup competitions, including the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, have reinforced his reputation as a change-maker on either wing.<\/p>\n
By contrast, Mohamed Salah\u2019s season has lacked the consistency of 2024\u201325. The 33-year-old has scored seven times in 28 appearances, with only four of those goals coming in the Premier League. His City Ground display produced one created chance and no shots in 77 minutes. A period of tension with Slot in December, and a spell on the bench earlier in the campaign, have only intensified scrutiny of his form.<\/p>\n
Even club voices who have criticised Salah have offered praise for Ngumoha after the Forest match. The emergence of the teenager has introduced a tangible alternative on the flank and a selection question Slot must now manage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Slot’s praise for 17-year-old Ngumoha highlights Liverpool’s emerging threat to Mohamed Salah. this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,969],"tags":[1446,1484,1304],"class_list":["post-7068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-premier-league","tag-academy","tag-appearance-record","tag-benching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}