Rio Ngumoha solution is not as easy as Jamie Carragher thinks - Liverpool has seen why

Calls are growing for Rio Ngumoha to start for Liverpool, but it's not as easy as Jamie Carragher has suggested, and the Reds know only too well why they can't rush the teenager

Rio Ngumoha has had to be patient for his chances with Liverpool this season(Image: Getty Images)

At just 17 years old, Rio Ngumoha is already making a serious case to be starting in the Premier League.

The club and its fans have known all about his talent from the moment he made the move to Anfield from Chelsea, although few probably expected him to become a regular feature in the first-team squad just over a year later.

Since then though, we’ve seen why he is one of the most exciting talents around in the Premier League, with aims of winning the Ballon d’Or already, and the calls for him to take the place of one of his more senior teammates are growing.

In just about 20 minutes against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, Ngumoha helped change the course of what felt like a nailed-on stalemate. Suddenly, having replaced an ineffective Mohamed Salah, the teenager gave the Reds the impetus to go on and snatch victory - albeit with more than a little fortune in Alexis Mac Allister’s eventual winner.

You make your own luck though and, as Jamie Carragher pointed out, Ngumoha did more than most of his teammates to earn Liverpool those three points.

"Ngumoha did more in 15 minutes than Salah and [Cody] Gakpo did before that,” Carragher said on Sky Sports, before adding: “He changed the game and needs to be starting games.”

Rio Ngumoha impressed when he came off the bench against Nottingham Forest(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

It certainly feels like we’re approaching that inevitability now. Salah continues to look a shadow of the player he once was, and you’d be forgiven if you hadn’t realized Gakpo was actually on the pitch on Sunday.

Ngumoha then might well be edging closer and closer to getting that first Premier League start. Arne Slot has exercised caution with a player still not old enough to be considered an adult, but he may well have to bite the bullet soon.

That doesn’t mean he should abandon that same caution though, even if Ngumoha proves to be the revelation many expect him to be.

At just 17, he still has a long way to go in his development, and rushing him into senior football could end up proving more harmful than beneficial.

Liverpool knows that all too well. You don’t have to go too far back to remember the last time there was this much excitement about a young player.

Stefan Bajcetic almost rescued what turned out to be the Reds’ worst season under Jurgen Klopp in the 2022/23 campaign. By the turn of the year, he had proven himself more than worthy of his place in the line-up, leading him to start a Champions League knockout tie against Real Madrid at the age of just 18.

His season would come to a premature end soon after that though. The rigors of first-team football looked as though they may have taken their toll as Bajcetic was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign just a few games later, and we’ve seen him make just three appearances for Liverpool since.

Stefan Bajcetic's Liverpool career has stalled due to injury(Image: Getty Images)

Loan spells in the Bundesliga and La Liga last season looked as though they might get him back on track, but surgery was needed before the end of the campaign, and we haven’t seen anything of him ever since, bar the odd glimpse of him in the gym at the AXA Training Centre.

Bajcetic offers a cautionary tale for the likes of Carragher and Daniel Sturridge, who are so eager to see Ngumoha get his chance. Of course, it’s good that people are so excited about a young player coming through, but at the same time, Slot is right to be careful.

He might not have much option but to give in to Carragher’s demands soon, but for Ngumoha’s sake, Liverpool cannot rely on him to become a straight replacement for someone like Salah just yet.