‘Oh my god!’: Alan Shearer compares Rio Ngumoha to a 28-year-old after his last-gasp goal for Liverpool
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Liverpool may have spent almost £300m this summer but it is Rio Ngumoha who is stealing the headlines.
The Reds have made it two wins from two at the start of the new Premier League season, but their performances have not exactly been the most convincing.
Bar Hugo Ekitike, the new arrivals are yet to hit the ground running and announce themselves to the rest of the division just yet, while some of the longer-serving players still do not look up to speed.
One player who does, however, is 16-year-old Ngumoha, with the Englishman taking his chance when he came off the bench against Newcastle.
The winger has not looked out of place during pre-season and the same can be said for his short cameo against the Magpies, with Alan Shearer left amazed by how well he took his goal.
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
When Liverpool let their two goal lead slip and needed to look to the bench for inspiration, it was safe to say that their attacking options were sparse.
Harvey Elliott and Ngumoha were the only real choices and these are the two who Arne Slot picked, with the latter saving the day in the dying embers.
For someone so young, he certainly does not lack confidence and he took his goal better than some regular first-team players probably would, with Shearer believing he scored it like a player in their prime.
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Bringing that sub on, the 16-year-old, what a finish, I mean oh my god!” Shearer said on The Rest is Football podcast.
“The build-up was great, honestly it was a finish of a 28-year-old in his peak, in his prime who had been around for years.
READ MORE: Jamie Carragher says £40m Liverpool player was nowhere near good enough vs Newcastle
“He just took it with such aplomb, such ease, and it was a great finish, unfortunately.”
That is the fifth time Liverpool have scored a 90th minute+ winner against Newcastle, matching a record they already held after scoring the same amount against Everton.
This one, however, meant a little more due to the occasion and because of the person who found the back of the net, with Ngumoha really having the world at his feet.
As Shearer rightly pointed out, Ngumoha took his goal so well that he looked like a player in his prime, with this tending to be around 28.
However, a simply frightening fact is that he does not technically reach his prime for another 12 years, meaning when he does, the year will be 2037.
That shows just how much potential Ngumoha has as he is already in and around the first-team, while staking a serious claim as to why he should be given minutes on the pitch.
He turns 17 on the 29th August and this is when he can sign his first professional contract, meaning that that is when his Liverpool career should well and truly begin.