Mohamed Salah urges Rio Ngumoha to ‘stay humble and work hard’

Rio Ngumoha’s first steps as a Premier League player could not have been more assured.

However Liverpool fare in their title defence this season, no one on the red half of Merseyside will forget the moment the teenage winger announced himself to the world in the dying seconds of a fraught contest at Newcastle last month, sweeping home a first-time finish to give Arne Slot’s side a dramatic late win.

It was a moment to savour for Ngumoha, who took needed four minutes to write his name into Anfield folklore following his introduction as a stoppage-time substitute, becoming the youngest scorer in Liverpool history – and the fourth-youngest in the Premier League – at the age of 16 years and 361 days.

No one was more impressed than Mohamed Salah, whose cross created a goal that, in its composure and self-belief, bore echoes of the one scored by Michael Owen, the player Ngumoha supplanted as the club’s most youthful goalscorer, on his league debut at Wimbledon in 1997.

‘I’m glad that he didn’t have much time to think about it’

“I think he had a great finish, he finished the ball very well,” said Salah, who trails only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt among Liverpool’s most prolific goalscorers. “I’m glad that he didn’t have much time to think about it, because I think if he had, he would miss it.”

https://twitter.com/eurofootcom/status/1960231989606514710

Salah knows better than most what it is to shoulder the burden of acclaim at a young age. Hailed as “the Egyptian Messi” when he joined Chelsea from Basel in 2014 at the age of 21, he struggled for game time under Jose Mourinho and was loaned out to Fiorentina and Roma, the latter of whom signed him on a permanent contract in the summer of 2016. 

That Salah has forged a path from Chelsea’s Egyptian Messi to Liverpool’s Egyptian king owes everything to dedication, humility and relentless focus – qualities he has urged Ngumoha, now 17, to prioritise as he continues his professional journey.

“He’s still so young,” Salah told the Men in Blazers podcast. “I told him after the game: ‘Just leave the social media alone. OK, you can be happy about the goal with your family, with your friends. Enjoy the moment to the max, because it’s like your first moments in football, but don’t really get engaged and get your appreciation from the outside world, because it’s always going to be fake.’

‘Rio Ngumoha needs to work hard and just stay humble’

“What future is waiting for him? It depends how he’s going to handle the situation, it depends how he is going to work. He needs to work hard and just stay humble, because he’s very young. I told him that some players peak too early, and they’re going to struggle after that.”

If a cautionary tale were needed in that respect, it was provided by the career of Owen, who became a regular starter in the season following his debut, but within two years had suffered a hamstring injury, marking the start of what he has since described as “a slow, agonising decline”.

With that in mind, it was notable that Slot resisted the temptation to introduce Ngumoha as a late substitute against Arsenal last Sunday, when Liverpool had to wait until seven minutes from time to score the winning goal. The teenager would appear to be in good hands.

“He has a good group and we always try to speak with him,” added Salah, “and the manager also speaks to him. He just needs to stay humble and work, and we’ll see.”