John Barnes has told England to “leave Rio Ngumoha alone” as he called on the Liverpool teen to be allowed to develop away from the limelight.
The teenage sensation was a rare bright spark for the Reds in an otherwise underwhelming campaign. He was one of several young stars who were called up to Thomas Tuchel‘s World Cup squad for their warm-up matches, bulking out the 26-man squad.
Ngumoha made his debut off the bench in England’s less than convincing win over New Zealand at the weekend, being named the Player of the Match. He’s often shown glimpses of quality when given the chance at club level, and that was again the case as he stepped up to the international stage.
But Barnes insists Ngumoha should be nowhere near the England squad, instead stating he should make himself a regular at Anfield before such conversations start happening.
He said on talkSport: “Leave him alone and let him develop, Theo Walcott went to the World cup at 16, and if you want him to progress you cant over emphasise his importance.
“He’s not even playing for Liverpool, he’s a sub for Liverpool, so until he gets into the team consistently and plays well don’t put the pressure on him. That’s why I’m glad he didn’t play a lot last year in a Liverpool team that was struggling, because if they’re not doing well and he suffers because of confidence it could effect him.
“Let him develop slowly, so the fact he’s not in Liverpool’s team, and I hope Arsenal do the same with Max Dowman, just leave them alone. If you’re not playing for Arsenal or Liverpool regularly, why are you going to be playing for England?”
View 2 ImagesThe teenager has impressed when given the opportunity at Liverpool
Ngumoha only saw nine of his 29 appearances come as a starter for Liverpool, but he quickly became a favourite and Arne Slot was booed when he took off the teenager against Chelsea last term.
England’s frontline is not without his quality, but injuries could always play a factor, as in any major tournament. Currently Tuchel has the likes of Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze as wide options, but Ngumoha could not be called up to replace them regardless of what happened.
Under World Cup regulations, teams can call up a late injury replacement up to 24 hours before their opening match. However, the player must come from the provisional 55-man squad submitted to FIFA. Ngumoha was not included on that initial list and cannot be added to the tournament squad under any circumstances.
Ngumoha’s quality left its mark on some of England’s senior players with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saying: “He was quality, nothing fazed him. He’s had a really good season at Liverpool and the manager gave him his debut and he showed how good he is.”
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