Rio Ngumoha suggested he could be the answer to Liverpool’s right-sided problem with the only goal as Andoni Iraola maintained his 100% start as Reds boss with a 1-0 victory over Wrexham in New York.
Liverpool are believed to be in talks with Paris Saint-Germain over the signing of Bradley Barcola, who would add another option on the left wing alongside Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and new signing Victor Munoz.
Ngumoha is also comfortable on the left but came on at half-time last night and operated from the opposite flank – a position that has been filled by Mohamed Salah in recent years – and showed his versatility with a bright display that was capped with a goal, albeit a scruffy one with a huge deflection taking the ball into the net.
The 17-year-old told the club’s official website: “I just want to play and start as many games as I can. These games are a really good showcase to show the manager, because it’s a fresh start for everyone. It’s really important and it’s good.
“All the coaching staff are just telling me to play my normal game really, whether that’s going inside or outside. I’ve been working on it in training anyway, playing on the right and the left. Just being unpredictable really.”
Nyoni also impresses for Liverpool
Iraola named a young side with Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Ryan Gravenberch and Jeremy Jacquet all remaining in Chicago. And that allowed Trey Nyoni to showcase his talents once again after an impressive showing in the 4-2 win over Sunderland on Saturday.
Iraola said: “Trey is very good on the ball, very calm, he reads the situations well. We’re forcing him in the work without the ball, in the press, and he is absolutely doing very well. I think the timings of the jumps are very good. He is always confident on the ball so we encourage him. Sometimes even if he loses the ball, ‘Try to find the No.10, try to find the No.9, even balls in behind, look a little bit further’ because he can do it, because he is so good.
“At the end, he is a midfielder who, I always say, you have to ask for the ball sometimes with pressure – and he doesn’t feel this pressure. Even when he has one opponent quite close, he asks for that ball and he’s confident, he doesn’t rush. For me, that is very valuable.”
It was another useful outing overall for Liverpool, who play Leeds next on Sunday.
“I think overall we were more solid than the other day,” added Iraola. “It was a different kind of game, the pitch is quite narrow and there are not a lot of spaces. But I think we had good spells. And even if the other day maybe you score more goals and it looks nicer, I think today we were more a team and more collective.
“We are sometimes arriving late, but I think it’s a step forward, since especially the first half against Sunderland. That is more of a reference than the second half. Slowly, slowly I hope every game we are closer and closer. We start to add new bodies, because now we are playing with a lot of the young players. Slowly, slowly we have to add the senior players that are starting to train with us, so we can arrive to the beginning of the season in a good place.”
Big-name quartet to return for Liverpool against Leeds
Liverpool should have more players available at the weekend with Jacquet expected to make his Reds debut following his summer switch from Rennes.
Iraola said: “Yes, my idea is for Ryan, for Florian, for Alex, for even Jeremy Jacquet to have their first minutes against Leeds. We’ll see how many minutes they can play but we have to start slowly, slowly integrating more of the senior players that have had less training sessions. I think they should be ready on the weekend to have their first minutes.”
