Thomas Tuchel backed to select Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha, 17, for World Cup
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Rio Ngumoha's stunning breakthrough could yet earn him a spot in Thomas Tuchel's England squad for the World Cup.
That is the view of former Premier League striker Troy Deeney, who feels the 17-year-old could follow in the footsteps of ex-Three Lions forward Theo Walcott and receive a shock call-up for next summer's tournament.
Former Arsenal and Everton star Walcott was a wildcard pick in Sven Goran Eriksson's squad for the 2006 World Cup aged just 17, after a scintillating six-month spell in his breakthrough campaign at Southampton in the Championship.
Ngumoha in action for England's under-19s against Ukraine
Ngumoha made his debut for England's under-19s side on Wednesday in a 2-0 win over Ukraine at Wembley.
In the same match, Arsenal talent Max Dowman came off the bench to break the record as the youngest-ever player to feature for England's under-19s, aged 15 years, eight months, and three days.
Both Ngumoha and Dowman have been included in Liverpool and Arsenal's respective Champions League squads and are expected to play significant parts in their clubs' seasons.
“We need to be careful and hopefully everyone does everything with a parental view to protect them, and to not burn them [out] in all this excitement," Tuchel said last week.
"The strength at the moment is that they just do, that they’re living their dreams, that they don’t think so much, and hopefully they can keep this going and we need to make sure that we don’t put the pressure up if at some point comes a moment when it gets a little bit more difficult.
“I’m hugely impressed when I think what I did at 15, 16, they play for the best teams in the country, in Europe and the world, full stadiums in the most competitive league, it’s just an outstanding achievement already."
Arsenal 15-year-old Max Dowman became England under-19s' youngest-ever player after his debut
Tuchel explained the dangers of calling players up too early, after holding a "long, long discussion" before bringing 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly into the England fold, who has since lost his starting place at Arsenal.
“Right now we see that it is not so easy to keep the momentum going for Myles, which is totally understandable," he said.
"Now it comes with a responsibility from us to not drop him on the first occasion, just because he does not start, so it is a fine line, and now there are two guys who are even younger than him.”