Liverpool boss Arne Slot reportedly involved in a tense stand off with sporting director Richard Hughes regarding the future of young superstar Rio Ngumoha.
Ever since his arrival at Liverpool in the summer of 2024, it’s been clear that Ngumoha could be a truly special player.
The 17-year-old was a regular for the youth teams before being called up to train with the first team squad by manager in the autumn, later making his professional debut on 11 January 2025 during the 4-0 win against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup.
Since then Ngumoha has made just nine more appearances for Liverpool, raising questions about his future at the club despite his young age.
And now, it has been revealed that the future of the young talent has led to a heated clash between Liverpool manager Slot and sporting director Hughes.
During the summer transfer window, Liverpool parted ways with star winger Luis Diaz, with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich paying £65.5million for the 28-year-old.
Following Diaz’s departure, Liverpool were linked with several new attacking players, but ultimately decided to prioritise options in the centre of their forward line, signing both Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike.
However, a report from Anfield Watch has claimed that this was against the desires of Slot, who wanted the club to pursue a move for Bradley Barcola or Malick Fofana to bolster their attack.
But Hughes and his recruitment team were instead keen for the Dutch manager to give Ngumoha a bigger roles in the first-team level following his impressive performances during pre-season.
Ngumoha made five goal contributions in five games before the season got underway but Slot reportedly was not convinced that he was good enough to regularly feature in the team and demanded Liverpool signed a new winger before the summer window closed.
Despite the heated stand off, Hughes refused to give in and told Slot that he would have to play Ngumoha and give him regular opportunities across the season.
The report claims that, with Slot refusing to play Ngumoha as much as Hughes would have liked, the future of the young star continues to be a source of contention between the hierarchy and the manager.
With Slot’s future at Liverpool still far from safe, it remains to be seen how Hughes and chief executive of football Michael Edwards will deal with Ngumoha’s lack of game time in the second half of the season.
