Liverpool ace Rio Ngumoha compared to two legendary stars by Gary Lineker – ‘very special’ | OneFootball

Gary Lineker has heaped praise on breakout Liverpool star Rio Ngumoha after his impressive display against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Arne Slot opted to start Ngumoha at left wing amid complaints about Liverpool lacking urgency and dynamism in wide areas, with Cody Gakpo being selected up front. Ngumoha showed what all the fuss is about, tormenting Pedro Porro with his pace and trickery.

Unlike his lacklustre team-mates, the 17-year-old showed constant willingness to get at the Spurs defence and either shoot or create an opportunity for someone else.

He managed 64 minutes on his first Premier League start before being replaced by Hugo Ekitike.

“You’re always slightly wary of getting ahead of yourself, but you recognise special talent when it arrives, and he looks to me the most likely since Wayne Rooney to absolutely be a superstar,” Lineker said.

“I’m going to go off piece here to a different game, but Rio Ngumoha, my word!

“You’d have [Max] Dowman on the right, the future looks bright!

“Wow, he [Ngumoha] was incredible. It was his first start in the Premier League, and again, I don’t want to get carried away, I’m not comparing him, but I’m saying that he’s got that stop-start sharpness of Mbappe.

“I’m not saying that he’s Mbappe because he’s one of the greatest players, but he’s got enormous potential.

“He wasn’t scared to take people on; Porro didn’t know which way he was going to go, and then that clever threaded pass through, he went very close a couple of times.

“I thought he was very special, I’m surprised he went off actually.”

Rio Ngumoha the ‘player of the match’ – Richards

Fellow pundit Micah Richards added: “I thought the game changed when he went off. He was pushing Spurs all the way back, and then Spurs stayed in the game and got their goal. I thought he was the player of the match by far.

“I’ve been in that position, Pedro Porro, you know when someone’s got the better of you, and he keeps going, we’re shouting, ‘just keep giving the ball to him, let’s see the battle.’

“Then you’re thinking, is he going to go back into the mode of what us pundits say is robotic and start getting it and coming back. But he didn’t, and that was the most exciting thing, where he just wanted to keep going and going with conviction.