Report: How Arne Slot now plans to use 'special' Rio Ngumoha at Liverpool moving forward
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Liverpool fans can relax as Arne Slot is now planning to give Rio Ngumoha more minutes in the remainder of 2025/26.Slot’s use of Academy players has been criticised this season, with the likes of Rio and Trey Nyoni hardly featuring in the Premier League.However, Ngumoha was highly praised following his cameo off the bench against Nottingham Forest last week. Who should be Liverpool’s no.10 vs West Ham?
Mac Allister over Szoboszlai? 🤔 Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images Daniel Sturridge commented on the Liverpool starlet, who it has been said did more than Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo during his brief time on the pitch.Arne Slot aims to use Rio Ngumoha moreHowever, despite an impressive showing from the teenager, it remained to be seen if the Forest performance was enough for him to garner more minutes moving forward.This is despite the fact that Salah is on a nine-game goal drought in the Premier League, and Gakpo continues to frustrate.Thankfully, an update in The Times ahead of the meeting with West Ham has cleared things up.Paul Joyce explained that: “Slot is planning to give Rio Ngumoha more opportunities to impress and believes the teenage winger’s ‘special quality’ in one-on-one duels can help Liverpool to finish the season strongly.” Liverpool are going to have to change this to make it to the UCL quarter-finals… Give us your early predictions for the last-16 clash with Galatasaray Photo Credit: Getty Images/Gerrit van Keulen/Soccrates Arne Slot needs to stop being so defensive about Rio NgumohaThe use of Academy players is one of the few things Liverpool fans have to get excited about this season.Ngumoha’s outing against Nottingham Forest injected some much-needed energy into the Reds’ attack, and fans will obviously want to see more of this moving forward.Speaking pre-West Ham though, as per Lewis Steele on X/Twitter, it’s clear Slot is still being pretty defensive every time he’s asked about Ngumoha.He said: “Let’s be clear, he is a special player that will have more playing time and already has more recently. But for a player playing for the Under-19 team of England, if everyone thinks he is so good…”Slot is obviously under a lot of pressure at the moment due to Liverpool’s league position, but at the moment, it feels like every time he speaks to the media, he is on the defensive, and the Ngumoha situation is no different.There’s no need to be cagey, especially if he is planning to give Liverpool fans what they want, which is more minutes for the 17-year-old.Join Our NewsletterReceive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox