4 months ago
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Photo by Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Rio Ngumoha has chosen not to extend his stay at Chelsea and is primed to join Liverpool but at 15 years of age he’s a signing for the future.
Liverpool’s first summer signing could be a player who won’t make a first team appearance this season, with claims today that the Reds have won the race to sign 15-year-old Chelsea youngster Rio Ngumoha for training compensation.
There had been plenty of chatter in Chelsea circles this year that Ngumoha, widely tipped as the top young attacking talent in their academy, was resisting efforts to sign him to his first professional contract and considering departing the club.
Now, at least according to Fabrizio Romano, his future is decided and that future will be at Liverpool, with a deal to be announced shortly—though as an academy signing, based on past evidence it’s likely the club won’t make a big deal of it.
Perhaps due to the talk of a potential departure, the player Ngumoha has been most often compared to of late is Jamal Musiala, the rising star 21-year-old for Bayern and the German national team who grew up in Chelsea’s academy.
For a player like Ngumoha, watching Chelsea stockpile young talent that would appear to block off any real chance of progressing to the first team, is believed to be a big part of his decision to sign his first professional contract elsewhere.
For Liverpool, if the deal does in fact go through it will be a minor coup such is the player’s standing at Chelsea—but it’s still likely even if Ngumoha is as good as advertised, he’ll yet need a year or two of seasoning in Liverpool’s academy.
