Paul Merson predicts whether ‘great talent’ Rio Ngumoha will get first Premier League start today
Paul Merson has proclaimed Rio Ngumoha as a ‘great talent’ with a ‘bright future’, but he doesn’t expect the teenager to be handed a first Premier League start just yet.
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In his debut season as a senior player, the 17-year-old has taken to first-team football with consummate ease for such a tender age, excelling off the bench in Liverpool’s dramatic late win at Nottingham Forest last weekend.
His cameo outing at the City Ground has led to calls for Arne Slot to reward him with more regular game-time, and the head coach hinted on the eve of today’s fixture against West Ham that he’s prepared to give him more minutes ‘in the near future’.
However, with the Reds having no margin for error in the race for Champions League qualification, Merson thinks that the stakes remain too high for a player of Ngumoha’s inexperienced to be risked from the start in Premier League games.
Merson doesn’t see Ngumoha being risked from the start
In his latest column for Sportskeeda, the Sky Sports pundit wrote: ‘There is a lot of talk about whether Rio Ngumoha should be starting games for Liverpool. It’s hard at the moment because of the position Liverpool find themselves in.
‘Ngumoha is a great talent and he has a bright future. But Liverpool’s Champions League qualification is on the line and they cannot afford to miss out on it. That’s why I think Arne Slot will stick to experience over youth.’
Ngumoha’s full Premier League debut surely isn’t too far away
In his time as LFC head coach so far, Slot has tended to stick with what he feels are tried-and-trusted options, often to the detriment of younger players who barely get a look-in even when regular starters look jaded or are out of form (as Harvey Elliott can testify).
Ngumoha has already made 15 first-team appearances this season, but the majority of his actual game-time has come in domestic cup competitions – the longest he’s played in a Premier League match is 20 minutes off the bench against Brentford four months ago (Transfermarkt).
He certainly put his best foot forward for a full top-flight debut with his performance against Forest last weekend, a game in which starting wingers Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah were both rather subdued, and everything we’ve seen from him so far suggests that he’d embrace the challenge of a first league start for Liverpool rather than being encumbered by it.
Even if he has to make do with minutes off the bench again today, though, a quickfire double header away to Wolves in the Premier League and FA Cup could viably see the 17-year-old start at least one of those fixtures, particularly if Slot feels that some of his first-choice attackers could do with a rest.
We’ll know by 1:45pm whether or not Ngumoha is handed a first top-flight start today, but even if it doesn’t come against West Ham, his eye-catching performances would suggest that the significant career milestone isn’t far away.
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