Rio Ngumoha was Liverpool’s hero thanks to his late winner against Newcastle on Monday night and John Terry has compared his thrilling style of play to two of his former Chelsea teammates.
At just 16 years old, the forward came off the bench late in the game at St James’ Park and produced an injury time strike which saw the Reds win 3-2.
It was a brilliant game as Liverpool took a two-goal lead and looked very comfortable with the Magpies down to 10 men thanks to an Anthony Gordon red card.
However, the home team were very impressive as they battled back to be level, only to see Ngumoha ruin their evening.
The teenage talent only joined Liverpool last year after being brought up in the Chelsea academy, where Terry was his coach for some of his time in west London.
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The former England and Blues captain says the young star is a rare breed these days, comparing him to the exciting attacking talents of Eden Hazard and Joe Cole.
‘You don’t see too many players that are exciting like him anymore,’ Terry told The Sun.
‘There’s going to be many more over the years that as an academy you lose, but there’s always one that you think, “I’m a bit gutted we missed out on that one.”
‘He was a very confident player, taking the ball on the back foot, lots of personality, very confident in himself.
‘Since the likes of [Eden] Hazard and Joe Cole and those types of players that are very confident and get the fans off their seat as well… I think football’s become a little bit stale and a little bit kind of tactical over the last four or five years.’
Of the winger he coached at Under-14 level, Terry added: ‘I’m still in contact with him, but he’s just a fantastic player.’
Ngumoha made his Premier League debut when he came on at St James’ Park and became the youngest scorer in Liverpool’s history.
He is also now the fourth-youngest scorer in Premier League history(16y 361d), behind James Vaughan (16y 270d), James Milner (16y 356d) and Wayne Rooney (16y 360d).
Why Rio Ngumoha left Chelsea
While Chelsea’s Cobham academy has produced a number of gems over the course of the last decade, the route into the first team has been far from straightforward.
A number of potential stars have departed in search of regular senior football, while even those who have made the breakthrough have been sold as a consequence of the PSR benefits.
According to The Athletic at the time of his departure, Ngumoha was said to have felt that Liverpool would offer him a much more realistic chance of featuring in the Premier League with the likes of Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley and Trey Nyoni having been entrusted by Slot and his predecessor Jurgen Klopp.
Having failed to agree a contract, Chelsea were powerless to prevent the England Under-17 international from leaving and were well aware they may have let a potential superstar slip through their grasp.
‘This boy is and will be a top player,’ said former Blues skipper John Terry at the time of Ngumoha’s move from Stamford Bridge to Anfield.
Indeed, the BBC report that so incensed were Chelsea by Ngumoha’s exit that they barred Liverpool scouts from attending their youth team matches.
