Rio Ngumoha has outlined two aspects of his game where he feels he’s ‘got to improve’ in the upcoming campaign.
The 17-year-old enjoyed a terrific breakthrough season at Liverpool in 2025/26, frequently lighting up Anfield with his proactive, self-confident performances in a team which struggled for the most part.
He earned a call-up to the England squad ahead of the World Cup, making his debut in a pre-tournament friendly against New Zealand, and has been earmarked for further Three Lions caps over the next few months.
As he prepares for his second season as a senior player for the Reds, Ngumoha is keen to push on further and enhance some parts of his game.
When asked in an interview with liverpoolfc.com about his personal aims for the season, the winger replied: “Definitely help the team out with goals and assists, but also my defensive actions as well. I’ve got to improve in both of them, but also just try to implement myself as a starter sometimes.
“Coming off the bench as well, because obviously we have so many players, so many top players, we’re all competing for places, but it’s healthy competition. [I just want to] try to help the team as much as I can, really.”
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Ngumoha can rightly feel proud of the progress he made last season, but he’s aware that the challenge now will be to kick on again and ensure that 2025/26 wasn’t merely a false dawn.
In 952 first-team minutes last term, he scored twice and provided one assist (Transfermarkt), a ratio that he’s certainly capable of improving with more frequent starts in the upcoming campaign.
Also, when looking at his defensive attributes from 2025/26, there’s plenty of room for improvement in the years ahead, although the figures below (via Fotmob) come with the caveat that he’s a 17-year-old winger who was in his first season of elite-level football.
Ngumoha has openly declared his willingness to play on the right flank as well as his usual left-sided role, and that positional versatility should also help him to develop as a top-level player in the coming months and years.
Having been something of an unknown quantity last season, the teenager will have more attention on him in 2026/27, but everything we’ve seen from him so far would suggest that he’s more than capable of standing up to the increased scrutiny.
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