Liverpool to sign teenage gem Rio Ngumoha from ‘furious’ Chelsea
Chelsea youth star Rio Ngumoha will leave the club and join Liverpool, according to the Daily Mail.
Writing on their website (8 July), the Mail said Chelsea are “furious” at the prospect of losing Ngumoha to Liverpool.
The 15-year-old has already featured for the U21 side and is regarded as one of the most highly rated prospects at their Cobham academy.
Ngumoha will join the Reds on a scholar’s contract if a deal is struck with their Premier League rivals, and is motivated about the first-team pathway on offer at Anfield.
Carabao cup final was pivotal for Liverpool youth recruitment
Chelsea and Todd Boehly are losing yet another Cobham prospect but this time to Liverpool, but what do they expect?
Boehly is on a mission to recruit all the best young talent in South America and limit the first-team path for the youngsters in the academy.
The Reds also tried for 16-year-old Ryan McAidoo but lost out on the player to Manchester City (Fabrizio Romano, 8 July).
If any at Cobham questions Ngumoha’s decision to leave for Anfield they should look at the 2024 Carabao cup final between the sides.
Conor Bradley started the final at 19-years-old while Jayden Danns, Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Jarell Quansah all featured.
When the final whistle blew and Liverpool were Carabao cup champions, the club had five academy players on the pitch including Caoimhin Kelleher.
Jurgen Klopp put his faith in the academy and beat a side that had £221m worth of talent in Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo alone.
The Reds clearly value Nguhoma highly as they are willing to break their academy wage structure for him according to Fabrizio Romano (8 July).
This is a move that will excite Liverpool fans as the club add another high potential youth prospect to the AXA academy.
Since Brexit, the club have focused on recruiting homegrown talent for the academy with the acquisition of Stefan Bajcetic from Celta Vigo the club’s last foreign purchase.
The Reds brought in Trey Nyoni from Leicester and Amara Nallo from West Ham last summer.
Boehly is continuing his spending spree this summer at the cost of losing one of his club’s brightest young stars.
But, in this case, Chelsea’s loss is Liverpool’s gain, which they will certainly come to regret if he fulfils his potential at Anfield.
In other Liverpool news, Liverpool make first-team decision on goalkeeping gem Vitezslav Jaros.
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