Ngumoha bucks one of the top flight's worst trends

Liverpool have provided a pathway for their 16-year-old starlet, writes Will Castle, instead of spending big on others

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Liverpool are already reaping the rewards from putting their chips on 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha.

Reds manager Arne Slot told the debutant, basking in his 100th-minute winner at Newcastle. He'll hope there are many more moments to come. It would have been quite the statement to say that, amid a £269m outlay to bring in players with the quality of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Hugo Ekitike, Liverpool's most exhilarating prospect coming out of preseason was a burgeoning teenage winger. But like the hype surrounding the former Chelsea product, expectations were already rising. A player already drawing comparisons to Neymar off the back of his academy exploits, his delightful solo goal inside two minutes of his Anfield bow against Athletic Bilbao only added fuel to the fire.

Such was the ability on show that Liverpool chose to take a risk and buck a Premier League trend of recent years. Instead of spending big on more “proven” players to fill the void left by Luis Diaz, Liverpool chose not to escalate their interest in the likes of Lyon’s highly rated Malick Fofana and Paris Saint-Germain star Bradley Barcola in favour of backing the talent already at their disposal. A pathway has been provided into the first team for Ngumoha.