Rio Ngumoha warning issued with family sent key message after Liverpool heroics

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But before the inevitable tsunami of endorsement offerings and media opportunities reach him, former top prodigy Sonny Pike has warned his family to do everything they can to shield him from hangers on and other parties who want to profit off his talent.

Back in the 1990s, when he was only 14, Pike was nicknamed 'the English Maradona' and had endorsement deals with the likes of Paul Smith, McDonalds and Mizuno.

All of those deals, as well as numerous media and television opportunities with the likes of Blue Peter and Fantasy Football were agreed with his father – a builder who had no interest in football before Pike's talent was spotted – despite the youngster wanting to focus solely on improving.

On the pitch, Pike had garnered the interest of Ajax, who regularly flew him from his Enfield home to Amsterdam, where he trained with the likes of Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart.

But the immense pressure and outside interference chipped away at his emotional wellbeing.

The final straw came when his father signed him up to star in a television documentary, where a camera crew filmed him while he was on trial for Chelsea.

Pike was a child when the football world was already tipping him to become the next Diego Maradona in the 1990s(Image: Fantasy Football)

What they thought was a programme about his jaw-dropping talent as a child turned out to be a documentary called 'Coaching and Poaching', which heavily suggested the Blues were trying to sign him while he was on the books of Leyton Orient.

An FA tribunal banned Pike from playing football for a year – a decision which killed his love for football and all but ended his career before it really started.

While the events around Pike's tumultuous childhood are extreme, his story is a warning to the families of young talents who prioritise financial and commercial benefits early on over their talented child's football development and mental health.

Sonny Pike's story is a cautionary tale for those with talented young children(Image: Tom Jenkins)

Speaking exclusively to the Liverpool Echo, Pike, who now runs his own one-to-one football coaching academy, issued an important message to Ngumoha's family and other people who have similarly talented children.

Getting him on the pitch might be the first hurdle, but then you've got all the dramas that come with it, all the fame that's going to come with it.

"It’s also about how their families react to all the attention as well, because it's not just him.

As well as finding the net on Tyneside, he also scored a wonderful goal in a 4-1 pre-season victory over Athletic Bilbao.

When it comes to matters on the pitch, Pike has no concern about Ngumoha.

For me, it's more the environment and how they're looked after off the pitch.

Can they get people around them to help manage the pressure, because they're going to get a lot of people around them that want to be around them just for their own benefits."

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