A vacancy has arisen on the left of Liverpool’s forward line, and an early, eye-catching application to fill the role has arrived from a 16-year-old. Rio Ngumoha further enhanced his first team claims with a sparkling display against Athletic Bilbao that underlined the formidable strength and options available to Liverpool manager Arne Slot.
Ngumoha opened the scoring superbly and teed up a goal for Darwin Nunez inside five minutes at Anfield in the first of two preseason friendlies against the Basque club.
A packed Anfield crowd had to wait for the second fixture to catch a first glimpse of new signings Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong.
Photo: Reuters
Ngumoha kept them entertained before then, as Liverpool recorded a comfortable 4-1 win in match one. The second game also went Liverpool’s way, a 3-2 victory in which Wirtz, Ekitike and Frimpong added to the flowing, blistering quality of the champions’ attacking play.
Ngumoha is not eligible to sign a professional contract until he turns 17 on Aug. 29th, but showed why Chelsea were livid when Liverpool tempted him away from their academy last summer.
In only the second minute of his second senior appearance at Anfield, the teenager, who made his full debut against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup last season, set off from halfway and, with Athletic defenders all in retreat, curled an excellent finish into the bottom corner of the Kop goal from 18 meters.
The left winger produced something similar in Liverpool’s previous preseason outing against Yokohama F Marinos in Japan last week. That goal came on the day Luis Diaz completed his ￡65.5m (US$87 million) transfer to Bayern Munich, creating an opening on the left that could be filled by any one of Cody Gakpo, Wirtz, Ekitike and perhaps the 16-year-old talent from London.
His display was enough to prompt chants of “Rio” from the Kop and a song in his honor from the singer who appeared during the interval.
Ngumoha’s emergence — predicted with confidence by John Terry when he lamented the youngster’s exit from Chelsea — is timely for Liverpool as they await Newcastle’s next move on Alexander Isak.
There might not be a rush to replace Diaz directly, given the options already at Slot’s disposal. The English Premier League champions can afford to wait on their prime target for the No. 9 role and leave their ￡110 million offer for Isak on Newcastle’s table.
Three minutes after his individual goal, Ngumoha headed down a Ben Doak cross for Nunez to convert from close range. Anyone looking for clues as to Nunez’s next step — with Al-Hilal interested in taking him to the Saudi Pro League — would have noted the hand-on-the-heart celebration that followed from the ￡60-million-rated Uruguay international in front of the Kop.
Liverpool’s first appearance on home soil since the tragic deaths of Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, was marked by the former Liverpool captain Phil Thompson and Athletic president Jon Uriarte laying wreaths in front of the Kop before the game.
There were moving moments 20 minutes into both games when everyone inside the stadium rose to their feet to applaud Liverpool’s former No. 20. Play stopped, and players from both teams also joined in the applause for Jota and Silva.
Slot was without Virgil van Dijk for both Bilbao games due to illness. The Liverpool head coach indicated the club captain could be a doubt for Sunday’s Community Shield against Crystal Palace. Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez were also absent through injury, forcing Slot to deploy 18-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni in central defense for the first Bilbao contest and Luca Stephenson at right-back.
Goalkeeper Alisson was unavailable, having left Liverpool’s preseason tour of Asia due to personal reasons. Summer signings Freddie Woodman and Armin Pecsi filled in, playing one half each, while Georgia international Mamardashvili made his Anfield bow in the second game behind a central defense of Ibrahima Konate and Wataru Endo. That is one department where the champions appear light at present.
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