Rio Ngumoha DESERVES better as Arne Slot confirms injury update

Rio Ngumoha has been the subject of a lot of debate recently.

There are many Liverpool fans who rightly want to see more of him. But there's also a manager who wants to protect him, and seems reluctant to use him.

As usual the truth is always between the two extremes. Neither side is right.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference before Barnsley, Slot explained how cautious Liverpool are in not overloading Ngumoha too much. Explaining that they want to avoid a similar situation happening to him that has happened with Jayden Danns.

“That’s why we are so careful with Rio Ngumoha. He’s two days a week off the pitch [in training], if that’s possible, to not have that same situation with him," Slot said.

This is a reasonable statement to make and Slot is perfectly right to issue caution. However, there have to be some question marks over the statement itself.

If Liverpool want to be careful with Ngumoha, why didn't the club sign a replacement for Luis Diaz? Their reasoning was to not block his pathway.

But now all of a sudden they don't want to play Rio in order to protect him.

There's a huge difference between overloading a player and not playing them at all.

Slot has referenced how Ngumoha has played more football than any other 17-year-old in England. The reality though is that outside of England, Ngumoha doesn't even rank in the top 10 17-years-old for minutes played in Europe's top five leagues.

Liverpool fans don't want him to play week in, week out. They simply just want to see him make more cameos off the bench. 15 minutes here, 25 minutes there.

More importantly, if he's not playing with the first-team he has to play regularly at youth level.

We saw what happens against Burnley what happens to him after being finally thrown into a game having not played a lot.

Ngumoha put in a bright performance but he was forced off the pitch with what looked like a worrying hamstring pull.

Thankfully, Arne Slot confirmed in his post-match press conference that Ngumoha's injury looked like only 'cramp.'

That's reassuring but also concerning in the sense that he might not have gotten a cramp if he was match fit and regularly playing.

Cramps often happen when you overload yourself after not playing for a long period of time. They are a sign of a lack of fitness.

The only one to blame for that is the manager, who doesn't pick him.

The fact of the matter is that Ngumoha deserves better. He's a massive talent and he's not going to learn much nor develop by sitting on the bench.

He doesn't need to start every week, but he can play a bigger role. His performance against Barnsley showed that. He can make a huge difference when he is on the pitch.

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