Rio Ngumoha has been in the news this weekend after Bayern Munich decided to make public their interest in signing the Liverpool gem.
Thankfully, it looks as though Bayern will be getting nowhere this summer. The Reds want to keep hold of Ngumoha and see him as having a bigger role this season. He is not for sale.
Talents as good as the 17-year-old are not easy to come by, and Liverpool know that. However, as luck would have it, journalist David Lynch says the club feel 15-year-old Josh Abe can be of a similar level to Ngumoha after signing a new contract with the Reds.
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Josh Abe could quickly move up to the Liverpool first-team
Abe rejected the likes of Man City and Chelsea on his way to signing up at Liverpool, and as Lynch told Anfield Index on Friday, the example of Ngumoha cannot have been far from anyone’s mind.
“The best comparison I can make, albeit it might be unfair about someone who’s only taken their first steps in the first-team right now, but he’s seen as Rio Ngumoha level talent.” he said.
“So, to be in and around the first-team at 16, maybe start to debut at 17 and kind of go from there. That’s how highly this kid is rated. You can tell that by the fact there were clubs queuing up to pay him 50 grand a week at that age, which is just ridiculous.
“Incredible from his representatives and family to not be tempted by that and to see the pathway, which is absolutely key here. So, there’s real excitement around him and he’s clearly an option to go on the pre-season tour this summer as well. I expect we’ll see him there. It’s seen as absolutely massive and I’m utterly convinced, injuries permitted, that this kid will be in the first-team very soon.”
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According to Lynch, Liverpool almost certainly see Abe as being on a pathway to the first-team, and will look to give him opportunities if his development continues as expected.
“Liverpool will have spelled out a similar pathway [to Ngumoha] for Abe, and they will live up to it, I don’t doubt it,” he said. “Obviously there are things he has to do to show he’s ready, but they believe that he will.
“That’s why I’m so convinced we’ll see him in the first-team very, very soon because Liverpool will have spelled that out to him that that is going to happen. Could it even be domestic cups next season? We’ll see, that might be a touch early, but at least the season after I’d imagine and from there a pathway to getting into the first-team on a full-time basis.”
What does Abe’s rise mean for Kieran Morrison?
Liverpool do, of course, have one more talented young winger in the youth teams who is on the cusp of the senior squad in Kieran Morrison.
Like Abe, Morrison is a left footer who likes to cut in off the right. And according to Lynch, this is likely to mean the 19-year-old’s route to the first-team is blocked.
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“I do expect him to go on loan,” he said. “I do wonder with Morrison what exactly the thinking is, how much of a first-team role he’s going to have in the long-term. I probably don’t see that.
“He might see sticking at Liverpool as a worthwhile option to go and get loan experience, and when he’s back training in and around the first-team. He just might see that as a good pathway for him to go and get a move eventually.
“I’ll be honest, with Abe coming there, and Diomande of course on that right-hand side who they hope to sign, I struggle to see Morrison being a first-team option in the long-term,” Lynch added. “But I think he will be aware of that as well.
“It’s more, sign a contract, give yourself a base, go and get some loan experience, continue to develop and then hopefully that puts him in a position to go and get a really good move at the end of it.”
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