Chelsea fans still furious over transfer mistake for ‘special’ Liverpool star Rio Ngumoha

Chelsea travel to Anfield this weekend to take on Liverpool in the Premier League and Rio Ngumoha could take on his former club for the first time as a senior player

Back in the summer of 2024, Rio Ngumoha found himself at a crossroads. Just 16 years of age at the time, but he was faced with a career-defining decision: stick or twist?

Stick: stay with Chelsea, the academy he had been with for seven years (since the age of eight)? An academy with a stellar reputation but with the club under new ownership, who have spent billions of pounds on bringing young talent in from all around the world, there were signs of less and less Cobham products breaking into the first team – and, crucially, staying there.

Twist: look elsewhere where there could be a better pathway into the senior side? Ngumoha, an enormously exciting teenage talent, was inevitably not short of offers. Clubs from around Europe circled to try and snatch the young Chelsea winger away from the west London club.

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Chelsea made numerous contract offers to Ngumoha, sources say, but the winger felt, for his development’s sake, he would be better off elsewhere. The young talent being injected into Chelsea every transfer window has made the job that more difficult for academy stars to find a route into the senior squad.

Liverpool eventually won the race for the then 16-year-old. While Ngumoha was not someone who could immediately go into the first team at Anfield, it was seen as a huge deal to land such an exciting talent.

It was announced in February of this year that Liverpool would have to pay at least £2.8million to Chelsea for Ngumoha, after a tribunal ruling. The £2.8m is non-negotiable and the fee could rise by a further £4m through add-ons if certain conditions are met.

Almost two years on from his brave decision to switch London for Merseyside, Ngumoha has not looked back. ‘Rio’, as it says on the back of his shirt and the name the Anfield crowd chant in unison whenever he gets them off their seats with an exciting dribble, has enjoyed somewhat of a breakthrough season in the Liverpool first team under Arne Slot.

Ngumoha has been a breath of fresh air in a faltering Reds attack this season and while some supporters want the 17-year-old on the pitch more, Slot will point – and has done – towards the 800-plus minutes he has played in all competitions this term – no under-18 player has more. In fact, Ngumoha is one of seven under-18 players to make a Premier League appearance this term and the Liverpool winger has 321 minutes to his name in the top-flight. Harry Howell of Brighton is next on the list in terms of minutes with 93, while Arsenal’s Max Dowman has 91 going into matchday 36 this weekend.

Saturday afternoon sees Chelsea arrive at Anfield, desperate for victory to keep their fading European hopes alive. The Reds have injury problems in attack, and there is a serious case for Ngumoha to start on the left wing, directly up against Chelsea captain Reece James, perhaps.

Some Blues supporters are happy Ngumoha, a product of the club’s academy, is excelling at the top level, while others have watched on with regret, a feeling of, ‘what could have been’. From Ngumoha’s perspective, there must be a feeling of validation that the courageous decision he made two summers ago has proved, or will be proven in the future, to be the right one.

From Chelsea’s point of view, Ngumoha’s rise was inevitable. The Blues knew the talent they lost and that is why it was so difficult for them to take. There is plenty of potential in the club’s academy at the moment and the challenge is to now try and find the next Ngumoha from the Cobham conveyor belt, but this time keep him around.