OFFICIAL: Liverpool complete transfer of Chelsea wonderkid Rio Ngumoha

Tom Weber

Updated: 4 Sept 2024 22:33 BST
5 min read

Liverpool have finally been able to announce the signing of Rio Ngumoha.

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The 16-year-old is regarded as one of the biggest talents to come out of Chelsea's prolific academy in recent years. A winger who can also feature centrally, Ngumoha has earned plaudits for his performances in the Cobham academy.

However, Chelsea could not manage to tie the youngster down to a new contract in the summer, meaning that the teenager was free to pick his next employer.

At the beginning of July, Fabrizio Romano announced that Liverpool had managed to reach an agreement with Ngumoha after agreeing to break their established wage structure to lure him to Anfield.

This news caused a stir at the time as Ngumoha has been compared to former Chelsea prospect Jamal Musiala, who incidentally also left the club at a young age. However, things went very quiet over the course of the remainder of the transfer window.

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A post shared by Rio Ngumoha Adigun (@rio_ngumoha)

Liverpool finally sign Ngumoha

This was because the Premier League still had to approve the deal. The league has to investigate every transaction involving minors and this usually takes some time.

Man Utd's signing of Arsenal youngster Chido Obi-Martin, for example, still hasn't been announced despite an agreement being in place for weeks. It was the same with Ngumoha's move to Liverpool.

However, the Premier League have now finally completed their 'five-step investigation process' and given the green light for the move to go through. Ngumoha has said his goodbyes to Chelsea on his social media channels and Liverpool have officially announced his arrival.

The Reds had a very quiet summer window until things burst into life late on with the signings of Giorgi Mamardashvili (for 2025) and Federico Chiesa. Though the window has long since closed, Ngumoha has now become the third arrival of the summer.