Slot reveals Ngumoha chance of Liverpool start vs Spurs as teammate serves as exertion warning | OneFootball

Arne Slot insists Rio Ngumoha “could start” for Liverpool as they face a tight schedule in the coming days but picked out a Reds teammate who serves as a warning against overexerting young players.

Ngumoha has featured for close to 600 minutes for all competitions this season and was hugely impressive in the FA Cup victory over Wolves last weekend.

The clamour for his inclusion against Galatasaray fell on Slot’s deaf ears but the Reds boss offered the 17-year-old hope of a start this week as Liverpool face Tottenham (H), Galatasaray (H) and Brighton (A) in the space of seven days.

He did though urge patience from the Liverpool fans calling for his increased game time as fellow youth prospect Jayden Danns is proof of the danger in pushing players to play too much too early in their careers.

Danns has made just five appearances for the Liverpool Under-21s in the last two seasons.

On how close Ngumoha is to starting in the Premier League and what the ‘balancing act’ is with him, Slot told his pre-match press conference: “It’s not that we think so far ahead what it would mean for the rest [of his career], but this season we’ve treated him carefully.

“I think I’ve said something about that before, that he cannot be too many days in a row on the pitch because of stress fractures players of these ages sometimes have and have had here in this club.

“Jayden Danns is one of the examples of that. But Rio is a player that could start for us. I think I’ve said a month ago that he would get more playing time and I think we’ve all seen that; coming in for a longer spell of times, starting against Wolves.

“And he’s definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games because, as you know, for the fifth time this season, I think, we have to play three games in seven days with an early kick-off on Saturday, an away game at Brighton.

“So, we’ve been very ‘lucky’ this season with that schedule. So yeah, that means you need more than 11 players and of course, the midweek game can also be longer than 90, as we’ve experienced last season.

“So, with then playing three games in seven days, every player that’s fit has the chance to play or to start in the upcoming three games.”