Liverpool officially completed the signing of 16-year-old winger Rio Ngumoha earlier this month, and on Tuesday he joined training with members of Arne Slot‘s first team.
With 19 senior players yet to return from the September break, Slot’s squad is currently threadbare and his latest training group included a number of the club’s young players.
The Athletic name-checked Ngumoha as one of the academy players involved during Tuesday’s session, speaking volumes of the the talent the 16-year-old possesses.
Ngumoha is expected to join up with Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s U18s this season, but there is no reason why he could not be fast-tracked through the ranks.
He will have been eager to make an early impression having been lured by Liverpool’s pathway from the youth teams to the senior set up, and he rubbed shoulders with a few first-team players.
Curtis Jones, who has given Slot an early boost ahead of Liverpool’s return to action, rejoined training this week after missing the last two matches with a minor muscle injury.
The likes of Darwin Nunez, Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa were also involved after remaining behind during the international break – the former due to a five-game ban for his actions at Copa America.
They were four six senior players who did not feature during the break, with goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros appearing to be nursing an issue, while Harvey Elliott is sidelined with a fractured foot.
It was a small first-team group, but you expect it will not be the last time we hear of Ngumoha joining the senior players for training such is his talent and potential.
Liverpool also added another young player to their ranks in midfielder Alvin Ayman, 16, this summer in what is a continuation of the club’s refined approach to academy recruitment post-Brexit.
