Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore has suggested that the Anfield hierarchy might choose to loan out Rio Ngumoha next season and has named one Premier League club which’d make an ideal temporary destination for the teenage winger.
The 17-year-old was the star attraction in the Reds’ 2-0 win over Fulham on Saturday, opening the scoring with a sumptuous curled strike, and his performance that evening has led to widespread calls for him to keep his place in the starting XI against Paris Saint-Germain tomorrow night.
Arne Slot has been cautious with his usage of the teenager – although he’s made 22 first-team appearances this season, most of those have been as a substitute – and Collymore has claimed that LFC might decide to loan him out next term in order to grant him more regular senior game-time.
Speaking to GOAL about what might come next for Ngumoha, the former Liverpool striker said: “They might turn around and say, ‘Not quite ready to play 30 games yet; we’re going to send him out on loan,’ and he could end up going to [Crystal] Palace for a spell or somewhere like that to find his feet.
“I think he’s much better than a Championship loan, so I could certainly see a Bournemouth, a full season at Bournemouth – who are very good by the way – down by the seaside; much less pressure with a very good coach, with very good players, might be the time for him to then grow as a youngster.
“He’s going to get physically bigger, physically better, hone his skills. They’ll give him game-time and then he comes back a year later.”
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Right now it’s difficult to predict exactly what the next few months have in store for Ngumoha, who could play his way into earning a succession of starts for Liverpool to conclude this season and potentially nail down a starting berth for next term.
However, with Slot’s position still looking tenuous (especially if the Reds fail to qualify for the Champions League), it’s not unthinkable that there could be a new man in charge by August who might either embrace the 17-year-old as a key player or prefer a loan exit to enhance the winger’s development.
We do agree with Collymore that, if the youngster is loaned out for 2026/27, Bournemouth would seem like an ideal destination – a stable Premier League club where expectations tend to be modest, and where nobody had quite nailed down the left-winger berth since Antoine Semenyo’s January move to Manchester City.
Andoni Iraola has a track record for getting the best out of young attackers at the Vitality Stadium – think of the fantastic season that Eli Junior Kroupi has been enjoying – and the Cherries boss might well be capable of doing the same with Ngumoha, if given the opportunity to do so.
However, such has been the 17-year-old’s promise at Liverpool that it wouldn’t surprise us in the least if he’s deemed too important for a loan exit in the summer. If he puts in a show-stopping performance against PSG tomorrow night, surely that’d be the ultimate proof that he’s ready to become a first-team mainstay at Anfield.
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