Liverpool transfer stance suggests Arne Slot has great faith in one particular player this season | OneFootball

Arne Slot could be prepared to put plenty of faith in one youngster at Liverpool this season, judging by reports over the past 24 hours.

The Reds’ forward line has changed considerably over the summer, due to the devastating loss of Diogo Jota and the subsequent sales of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, with Hugo Ekitike the only attacking addition so far.

The Frenchman is one of just four out-and-out senior forwards at Anfield, and the Merseysiders could viably submit another offer for Alexander Isak this week, although the head coach doesn’t seem overly perturbed by the depth at his disposal in the final third of the pitch.

Slot satisfied with attacking depth at Liverpool

As per Paul Joyce for The Times on Sunday night, Slot believes he has other options who could be utilised in attack, name-checking Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong as auxiliary forwards if required.

Although the Liverpool boss didn’t explicitly mention Rio Ngumoha, the report claims that the 16-year-old ‘sparkled in pre-season’ to the extent that the club have indicated they would prefer to create a pathway for him than sign either Bradley Barcola (Paris Saint-Germain) or Malick Fofana (Lyon).

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Ngumoha seems ready to make an impact for Liverpool this term

The teenager was indeed a standout player for the Reds in pre-season, scoring sublime solo goals against Yokohama F. Marinos and Athletic Bilbao and – in the words of Sky Sports reporter Patrick Rowe – ‘staking a major claim to be firmly in the first-team picture’ in the 2025/26 campaign.

Ngumoha was named on the bench for the Community Shield and the Premier League opener against Bournemouth, but didn’t feature in either game, and his only competitive senior appearance thus far remains his FA Cup outing against Accrington Stanley in January (Transfermarkt).

However, he’s shown an extraordinary self-confidence for such a young player in a first-team setting, and it seems inevitable that he’ll be handed a top-flight debut at some stage in the coming months.

It’s unlikely to come in the high-stakes fixtures against Newcastle and Arsenal over the next week, but he could be introduced if Liverpool are in a comfortable winning position, similar to how Mikel Arteta brought on 15-year-old Max Dowman with the Gunners 4-0 to the good against Leeds on Saturday.

With only a week remaining in the transfer window and Richard Hughes’ attention seemingly focused on potential deals for Isak and Marc Guehi, it’s hard to imagine the Reds making a late attempt to sign Barcola or Fofana.

Instead, Slot is set to trust in Ngumoha to make an impression on the first team in a competitive environment. From what we’ve seen of the teenager so far, any such faith would be well placed.