Former Liverpool player Steve McManaman talked up Rio Ngumoha but warned against getting carried away with his lofty potential.
Ngumoha made a high-profile move from Chelsea to Liverpool aged just 15 last summer and made his senior debut for the Reds just four months after his 16th birthday, starting in the FA Cup third round against Accrington Stanley.
The youngster recently came up against former club Chelsea as Liverpool’s Under-18s mounted a dramatic late comeback to win 3-2 in the U18 Premier League Cup, scoring a fine equalizer late in the game. There is plenty of hype surrounding the teenager, who was the subject of interest from a host of top clubs last year, but McManaman is keen for him to stay grounded.
“He scored a nice goal against Chelsea the other day, of course that was his old team, so I don’t know whether he (Ngumoha) felt he had a point to prove,” McManaman said on the Aldo Meets Podcast. “Funnily enough, I saw him on Friday, as I said, and I said to him, ‘You know, don’t let yourself get carried away’ – because of the story, because of what happened with the transfer coming into Liverpool, and there was still a little bit of bad blood there, and his family wants them to do well. You just have to make sure he didn’t get carried away.
“Playing the way he did and scoring the goal and setting one up really late on in the game, I think he’ll be very happy. As I said, we always have one, don’t we? We brought Ben Doak down and he was the little skilful dribbler, and he’s going to be a great player, and he’s doing really well at Middlesbrough.
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“He (Ngumoha) is only 16 and you can’t get carried away with him. He’s got really nice traits. He’ll work hard, he’s in the right place, and let’s hope he develops exactly how everybody wants him to develop.
“He’s 16, you don’t want to say he’s amazing. His ability is fantastic, but you just want to say, ‘He’s cool, and he’s doing the right things’ – and that’s all you can say at the moment, because people can get injured. Kaide Gordon had a bad injury, was out for 16 months. You’re loath to get carried away with the kids, because you know what can easily happen so let’s hope they can keep progressing and hopefully be in the first team in the future.”
