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The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Rio Ngumoha shines to fuel Liverpool's optimism for new season
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 Arne Slot. Ngumoha opened the scoring superbly and teed up a second goal for Darwin Núñez inside five minutes at Anfield in the first of two pre-season 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 Ekitiké and Jeremie Frimpong. Ngumoha kept them entertained and whetted the appetite prior to their appearances as Liverpool recorded a comfortable 4-1 win in match one. The left winger is not eligible to sign a professional contract until he turns 17 on the 29th of this month 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 the halfway line and, with Athletic defenders all in retreat, curled an excellent finish into the bottom corner of the Kop goal from 20 yards. Ngumoha produced something similar in Liverpool's previous pre-season outing against Yokohama F Marinos last week. That goal came on the day Luis Díaz completed his £65.5m transfer to Bayern Munich, creating an opening on the left that could be filled by any one of Cody Gakpo, Wirtz, Ekitiké 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 honour 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 may not be a rush to replace Díaz given the options already at Slot's disposal. The Premier League champions can afford to wait on their prime target for the No 9 role and leave their £110m offer for Isak on Newcastle's table. Three minutes after his individual goal Ngumoha headed down a Ben Doak cross for Núñez to convert from close range. Anyone looking for clues as to Núñez's next step – with Al Hilal interested in taking him to the Saudi Pro League – will have noted the hand-on-the-heart celebration that followed from the £60m-rated Uruguay international in front of the Kop. A glimpse of Liverpool's past and future, perhaps. Doak and Harvey Elliott, two other players who could leave Anfield in this window, were also on the scoresheet in the first contest against Ernesto Valverde's side. Ngumoha's footwork and pace also impressed in the 67 minutes he was on the pitch. He received a well-earned rousing reception when replaced by Trent Koné-Doherty. The opening game started at 5pm as scheduled despite supporters in the Main Stand having to be evacuated just over an hour before kick off due to a false alarm. Liverpool's first appearance on home soil since the tragic deaths of Diogo Jota and his brother, André Silva, was marked by the club's former captain Phil Thompson and Athletic president, Jon Uriarte, laying wreaths in front of the Kop before the game. There was a moving moment 20 minutes in when everyone inside the stadium rose to their feet to applaud Liverpool's number 20. Play stopped and players from both teams also joined in the applause for Jota and Silva. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion 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 defence for the first Bilbao contest and Luca Stephenson at right-back, while goalkeeper Alisson was unavailable having left Liverpool's recent pre-season tour of Asia due to personal reasons. Summer signings Freddie Woodman and Armin Pecsi filled in for the first choice goalkeeper, playing one half each, while Georgia international Mamardashvili made his Anfield bow in the second game behind a central defence of Ibrahima Konaté and Wataru Endo. That is one department where the champions appear light at present. Ngumoha could add to their riches up front.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Sheffield Wednesday players release statement amid club's financial turmoil
Sheffield Wednesday players have issued a statement saying that they are 'extremely concerned' at the lack of clarity around the club's financial situation. Players and staff at the Championship club have had to deal with late wage payments for three months in a row as a consequence of the club's financial issues, with the players deciding to withdraw from a planned friendly against Burnley last week. Wednesday have previously been placed under transfer embargo for payments owed to HMRC, while the EFL imposed ' a three-window fee restriction after exceeding 30 days of late payments between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025'. And the statement from the members of the squad highlighted how 'players and staff are now feeling real, practical impacts in their professional and personal lives', adding that they want to make sure that 'decisions taken like the one not to play at Burnley are avoided in the future'. 'As has been well publicised, players, coaching and club staff groups at the club have all been impacted by delayed and overdue payment of salaries,' began the statement. 'This has been a worrying time for us as players but, whist we are often the ones in the spotlight, we are not the only ones involved. We stand together in support with all our colleagues employed by the club who have been affected. 'The decision taken by the players to withdraw from the planned friendly with Burnley was not taken lightly or without consideration. We are fully aware of the added concern this will have caused supporters but trust there is a real understanding of the difficult position we have been put in,' it added. Naturally, the decision to not play the match against Burnley has led to concerns as to what action the players could take as the league season gets underway, with the Owls set to face Leicester City in their first match of the new Championship season. But the players explained that they 'want to reassure fans that there has not been, and will not be, any 'downing of tools' by any of us on the training ground, and we are all working as hard as we can'. 'However, we, like you, want our focus to be fully on what happens on the pitch and the new season ahead. This is proving to be really challenging and we have made it clear to the club that we want this situation to be addressed as soon as possible so decisions taken like the one not to play at Burnley are avoided in the future. We can then all move forward together as a club,' it added. The Owls's pre-season preparations have been thrown into chaos with the transfer embargo, the departure of Danny Rohl and the closure of the North Stand at Hillsborough, and there are doubts over whether they will be able to fulfil their first game of the season. That match comes against Leicester on Sunday, 10 August, with fans planning a protest against owner Dejphon Chansiri, who is under mounting pressure to sell the club.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Teenager Ngumoha stars in pre-season win
Liverpool were comfortable 4-1 winners over Athletic Bilbao in the first of a double-header of friendlies on the first match at Anfield since the deaths of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva, the club paid tribute to the forward and his brother before the Slot fielded what was a mostly second-string starting XI for the first game, the second of which gets under way at 20:00 BST, with 16-year old Rio Ngumoha on the left wing - and he caught the eye as he has done all netted in just the second minute as he ran onto a loose ball in his own half before racing forward and curling a fine effort in from 20 yards three minutes later, the youngster nodded a Ben Doak cross down for Darwin Nunez to net from close and Harvey Elliott added to the lead, before Gorka Guruzeta pulled a consolation goal back for the visitors 15 minutes from impressive performance came on the back of an assist against AC Milan and a goal against Yokohama F. Marinos in Asian January, the England under-17 international became the youngest player to start a match, and the second youngest to play, for Liverpool - aged 16 years and 135 days old - in the 4-0 win over Accrington in the FA do you make of Ngumoha's pre-season? Should he be given a chance in the first team this season? Or would he benefit from experience elsewhere first?Let us know your thoughts
