Wonderkid confirms he's ready to join Liverpool's first team | OneFootball

Arne Slot's first team could soon be joined by another wonderkid.

Right now, all the rave is about Rio Ngumoha, and rightly so. He's become Liverpool's youngest ever goal-scorer in the club's entire history.

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On top of that, his strike against Newcastle came on the back of a pre-season campaign in which he made five goal contributions in five games.

Ngumoha is the future. He's the type of player who gets fans out of their chairs and makes football fun to watch. In an age where football has become a little bit more rigid - where sometimes players are forced into taking less risks and making their games more controlled - Ngumoha's freedom is a refreshing antidote.

It's important not to get too carried away with the hype. Liverpool have tried to manage the focus on Ngumoha as much as possible.

That's why the club's media team often edited out clips of Ngumoha from the Inside Training video series last season in a bid to contain the attention around him as Anfield Watch exclusively revealed.

At such a young age, it's very important that Ngumoha keeps his feet firmly rooted to the ground.

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It's also interesting that the club's policy in terms of promoting young talents has changed under Arne Slot. Back in Jurgen Klopp's day, if you produced solid performances in the academy, you were always guaranteed a chance in a domestic cup game at the very least.

Slot isn't as rewarding to his academy graduates. He wants more from Liverpool's young stars. This is why he also doesn't rotate his options as much.

So, the fact that Ngumoha has been able to breakthrough in this environment is a credit to the massive talent that he is.

He's someone who is showcasing Slot, that it is worth trusting youth and integrating them into the first team.

His emergence will hopefully be a watershed moment for many other wonderkids to join the club's senior side on a regular basis. Among them one has already confirmed he's ready for that role.

Why Jayden Danns has confirmed he's ready to join Liverpool's first team

One player we haven't seen an awful lot of in pre-season is Danns. He was still recovering from the injury he picked up in the second half of last season, which prevented him from joining Sunderland on loan.

In the end, Danns was fit enough to play one game against Athletic Bilbao in pre-season but even that was a cameo and it was out of position, with Danns playing as a winger.

Since then, he's been with the U21s, where he has caught the eye. In the opening game of the season, Danns scored a stunning goal to showcase the quality that he has is very much a level above everyone else at that level.

In his second game, his link-up play and runs were second to none. Danns is a very intelligent player, and he can press very effectively as well.

© IMAGO - Jayden Danns Liverpool

Now against Italy's U20 national team, Danns had the honour to captain the young Three Lions and he found the back of the net straight away in a 2-1 loss at Chesterfield.

Danns now has two goals in three matches this season, and the way he has started as well as his captaincy for England is just confirmation that he belongs with the first team.

The 19-year-old has made an impact every time he has played for the club. He has three goals in 193 minutes spent on the pitch. That's a goal every 64 minutes in his Liverpool career so far.

With Federico Chiesa omitted from Liverpool's Champions League squad, Danns automatically becomes the third option behind Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak as he can be registered in the B-List and therefore be automatically guaranteed that he can be played should Slot need him.

And he does. It's a long season, and you need everyone to contribute. Ngumoha has shown he can do that. Danns has proven it, too.

His latest performances are just a confirmation that the Reds' wonderkid is back to his best, and ready to join the first team on a regular basis.