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Liverpool forward Rio Ngumoha is among a number of young talents who have been highlighted by an Adidas advert that involves Argentina legend Lionel Messi, now at Inter Miami.
Ngumoha, who only turned 17 last month and has since signed his first professional contract with the Reds, has already scored in the Premier League for Liverpool this season, netting a 100th-minute winner against Newcastle United. Signed from Chelsea in 2024, he appears to have a huge future ahead of him.
Arne Slot's side underwent plenty of changes this summer, adding a substantial amount of attacking quality to its roster. But Liverpool made sure not to block Ngumoha's pathway, such is his talent.
Also named in the advert are Kendry Paez (Chelsea and Ecuador), Rodrigo Mora (Porto and Portugal), Mika Godts (Ajax and Netherlands), Nico Paz (Como and Argentina), Kader Meite (Rennes and France), Andrey Santos (Chelsea and Brazil) and Brajan Gruda (Brighton and Germany).
In January, Ngumoha became the youngest player to start an FA Cup game for Liverpool. At 16 years and 135 days old, he featured in a 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley when Federico Chiesa was unavailable.
Ngumoha was also handed a Champions League debut this month when the Reds beat Atletico Madrid at Anfield. He is expected to get plenty of opportunities to impress this season, though that is likely to be mainly off the bench.
"Rio again showed the quality he has and that’s nice for us because we have a lot of very good players," Slot said during a press conference in Asia in the summer.
“But to get some very good players through the academy is always helpful and always gives energy to a team as well.
"It’s always nice to see young players from 16, 17 or 18 years old already impacting a game. If you are 16 and you can impact the game like he did, that’s definitely worth a compliment."
"It is a dream debut for him," Virgil van Dijk said after Ngumoha's late goal against Newcastle. "It was a perfect technique.
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"We stayed calm towards the end as well, tried to find the right solution in order to score a goal, and we did it. I'm very pleased for Rio."
"It was a great goal for a 16-year-old," Liverpool head coach Slot said. "It was a big chance. He can finish really well for his age. How firm his shot was — you don't see this often."
Liverpool.com says: Ngumoha is a huge talent and it's going to be really exciting to see how he develops over the next few months. Liverpool will be careful with him, but there is a massive amount of quality to be unlocked.
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