Rio Ngumoha reaches massive decision on Liverpool future as he reveals all on contract talks
Liverpool are still to reach a full agreement with Rio Ngumoha over a new deal at Anfield, though the winger has issued some words of encouragement that will warm the hearts of Reds fans, while TEAMtalk has revealed Julian Ward’s big demand on the teenager.
Ngumoha recently turned 18, passing the age at which Liverpool can legally tie the player to a long-term pro contract. Having made his breakthrough under Arne Slot last season and now a fully-fledged England international to boot, the teenager is seen as one of the country’s leading young talents with a massive future ahead of him.
Liverpool and their fans adore him and understandably believe they have a real gem on their hands.
Indeed, TEAMtalk revealed last month that the principles of a new deal were already in place between club and the player, with all parties now working towards ironing out the last remaining details.
Despite that, there has yet to be an announcement from Liverpool that an agreement has been reached, leading to some supporters expressing concern and amid rumours that Arsenal could look to lure the Newham-born star back to London.
However, Ngumoha is adamant his future is locked in at Anfield and insists “all is going well” with those talks.
Speaking to reporters in the mixed zone after the Reds’ 2-1 win at Brentford on Saturday, Ngumoha was quoted by BBC Radio 5 Live as saying: “It’s all with my agent now. I think it is all going well. I am not too sure.
“I just let the football do the talking, I enjoy playing, and all of that is in the back of my mind.
“I just play for Liverpool, and hopefully I can carry on doing well.”
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Ngumoha made 29 appearances – most off the bench – during his breakout season at Anfield, across the 2025/26 campaign, a sure sign of the belief they have in the teenager.
Despite that, Liverpool still went and spent a whopping combined £157.5m (€187m, $210m) on two wingers who can directly play in the same preferred left-wing role as the teenager, with both Bradley Barcola and Victor Munoz increasing the competition for places in the Reds’ attack.
As a result, Ngumoha has been limited to just 370 minutes so far this season across eight appearances, with Andoni Iraola taking a cautious approach with his development.
With the game’s top teenagers demanding more game time than ever before – the case of JJ Gabriel at Manchester United recently being the prime example – Ngumoha was asked if he was satisfied with his minutes – or lack thereof, as could be interpreted – for the Reds this season; the teenager delivered the perfect response.
“I think because I am still young, the club are just trying to look after me, but we also have some of the best attackers in the world, so competing for places is not easy,” he said.
“So it is all about healthy competition, and we all just want to make the team win at the end of the day. Whatever minutes we get, we can’t be sulking; we just have to go out and show what we can do.”
Indeed, our reporter Bailey has been adamant all summer that all parties are aligned on signing that new deal, with the final arrangements simply needing to be ironed out before an official announcement can be made.
In that regard, Bailey reported on 12 October that new sporting director Ward has made locking down the winger to his new deal his utmost priority at Anfield, and with sources making it clear there are no concerns that an agreement won’t be reached.
In other news, Liverpool are being backed to use the January window to sign an ‘actual right-back’ and are understood to be making a beeline to signing a Benfica talent who has a £38m release clause in his deal.
