Use him or lose him? The great Rio Ngumoha mystery

Liverpool opted to sell Luis Diaz last summer - to Bayern Munich in a deal worth around £65m.

The Colombian has taken to life in the Bundesliga with a certain relish - scoring arguably a Puskas Award contender last weekend versus Union Berlin.

His departure has impacted Liverpool. Last season he scored 13 goals en route to the Premier League title. If his replacement at No7 - Florian Wirtz - manages that total from this point onwards he will have had a very good season indeed.

But sporting director Richard Hughes decided NO replacement left-winger would be brought in. Instead Cody Gakpo was given a new contract and up until very recently he was the man entrusted with the left-wing duties by Arne Slot.

His reserve in the position - absent any senior options - would be Rio Ngumoha.

Why won't Arne Slot use Ngumoha?

There was much excitement around Anfield when the then-15-year-old was signed from Chelsea’s academy in summer 2024. The young Englishman tore it up through the various age-group levels - becoming a viable first-team option over the summer window.

Ngumoha had five goal involvements in five preseason games - earning his spot in Arne Slot’s squad. Now 17, Rio has since signed his first professional deal - even in spite of reported interest from Real Madrid.

If he is so promising then why on earth isn’t Slot using him?

Ngumoha has had precious little game time in the Premier League - amounting to around half an hour in total. About 20 minutes of that came in the recent defeat to Brentford.

But he’s shown in his brief time on the pitch for the first team that he can change matches - with a game-winning intervention against Newcastle and a tour-de-force cameo away at Burnley.

Against Aston Villa, Real Madrid and Manchester City over the past week the teenager has stayed rooted to the bench.

Ngumoha playing ZERO minutes

What a waste.

Ngumoha is still eligible for Liverpool’s under-18s, under-19s and under-21s. And as pointed out in a tweet by Liverpool academy expert Lewis Bower - all those sides as well as the first team played this week.

Ngumoha had ZERO minutes on the pitch. That quite simply is no way to treat one of the biggest teenage prospects in the European game.

And frustratingly for the youngster that lack of game time has come while England under-17s compete in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

A wasted season for Ngumoha

Ngumoha is eligible for Neil Ryan’s side - but has since graduated to U19 level. Still, surely playing some football on the global stage is better than playing none for his club side?

That tournament is due to run until November 27 - of course there is no guarantee that the Three Lions will be there that long.

Liverpool’s first team don’t play again until November 22.

Conceivably Ngumoha could have gone away with England and still would have played the same number of minutes for the first team as Slot has offered him thus far throughout the duration of the tournament.

It’s mystifying. Liverpool risk the possibility of Ngumoha stagnating at a crucial stage of his development. We know Slot is keen to pick his favourites - doubling down on that strategy during this poor run of form.

But sooner or later it will come to a reckoning over Ngumoha. Use him or lose him. That was the plan when Diaz was sold.

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