John Terry compares former Chelsea wonderkid to two club legends, “gutted” he left the club | OneFootball

Chelsea legend John Terry has compared former Blues youngster Rio Ngumoha to club legends Joe Cole and Eden Hazard.

The 16-year-old stole the headlines after he scored a last minute winner for Liverpool against Newcastle to give them a 3-2 win at St James’ Park on Monday night.

Ngumoha joined Liverpool from Chelsea last summer, and became the fourth youngest goalscorer in Premier League history.

John Terry compares Rio Ngumoha to two Chelsea legends

Chelsea tried to keep Ngumoha, but the youngster opted to join Liverpool as he believed there was a better pathway to the first team at Anfield.

Ngumoha was highly regarded at Chelsea, and the Blues were naturally disappointed at not being able to keep hold of the teenager.

Ngumoha joined Liverpool from Chelsea last summer. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Terry coached Ngumoha for part of his time in the Chelsea academy, and stated attacking players like him are a rarity these days.

“You don’t see too many players that are exciting like him anymore,” he told The Sun.

“There’s going to be many more over the years that as an academy you lose, but there’s always one that you think, ‘I’m a bit gutted we missed out on that one.’

“He was a very confident player, taking the ball on the back foot, lots of personality, very confident in himself.

‘Since the likes of [Eden] Hazard and Joe Cole and those types of players that are very confident and get the fans off their seat as well… I think football’s become a little bit stale and a little bit kind of tactical over the last four or five years.”

Chelsea not happy with Liverpool

There’s nothing that can be done now, but at the time it was reported Chelsea were furious with Liverpool over the move.

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It’s even believed the Blues banned Liverpool scouts from attending their youth team games, whilst Chelsea could reportedly be due some compensation.

Ngumoha looks set to play some sort of role for Liverpool this season, and Chelsea will be hoping he doesn’t come back to haunt them when the two teams meet later in the campaign.