Arne Slot's Liverpool managed to win against Nottingham Forest right at the death in the Premier League, and 17 year old Rio Ngumoha played a huge role in the victory. Rio Ngumoha made a huge impact despite playing just around 14 minutes after replacing Cody Gakpo. The youngster delivered a brilliant cross that created a big chance for Ekitike and also led to Alexis Mac Allister’s disallowed goal. He then topped it off with an exceptional solo dribble before Mac Allister scored the winner.
Given how decisive he was in such a short cameo, Ngumoha showed he deserves more minutes if he can keep producing this level of impact. The English winger has appeared in 9 Premier League games for Liverpool so far this season, and is widely seen as one of the most exciting young footballers in the world.
Arne Slot gives huge praise for Rio Ngumoha during press conference
The following is what Arne Slot said about Rio Ngumoha during his post-match press conference after Liverpool's game against Nottingham Forest:
On Rio Ngumoha:
"He has incredible potential, otherwise at 17 years of age you don't play as many minutes as he does in the Premier League, let alone at Liverpool. I don't think there's any other 17-year-old that has played so many minutes this season in the Premier League as he did. I don't think there is an 18- or 19-year-old maybe that played as many minutes as he did, but that last thing I'm not 100 per cent sure about. So that tells you how much of a talent he is and we think he is. He's making progress more and more and that's why lately you see him playing more and more.
He gets stronger. Apart from his moment where he had that one-v-one, there were also one or two other moments where he showed that he stands his ground. That is, of course, what you need because you face 25-, 26-, 27-, 28-year-old athletes mainly as your opponents. We're a bit of an exception in terms of the age of our group of players, most teams we face have players of different ages and different physicality. For him to show this already at 17 years of age says something about his talent. But as we all know, talent is only the start of a career and you need so many other things, as we've shown today – Macca [is] a great example about mentality. That is something you need to get a career at this level."
Arne Slot looks set to give Rio Ngumoha more minutes based on his comments
It's a rare sight in football to see the manager of a top club speak so much about a 17 year old after an important Premier League game, let alone praise him. This goes on to show us how special Rio Ngumoha is, and Arne Slot definitely seems to rate him highly based on what he saw in the game against Forest and comments he made on him after the game.
The Dutch manager's comments also indicate that Ngumoha's involvement with Liverpool is set to increase in the coming Gameweeks. However, we also feel Slot is being careful with the 17 year old based on his comments, and thus won't rush him into too many games. As things stand though, Rio Ngumoha looks destined to achieve greatness in a Liverpool shirt in the future. Whether Arne Slot will stick around to witness that remains to be seen, as failure to make Liverpool qualify for the Champions League after the season ends could see him get the sack and be replaced by Xabi Alonso.
