Ngumoha backed to outshine €130m Real Madrid target Diomande

Rio Ngumoha goes into the new campaign as one of the most talked-about teenagers in European football, and one well-connected voice inside the English game believes the Liverpool winger will end up with a bigger career than the forward Real Madrid are about to spend a fortune on.

Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony, speaking on talkSPORT, went as far as predicting a personal award for the youngster before a ball has been kicked.

“He will be a sensation this year. I'll make a prediction that he'll win Young Player of the Year in the Premier League, without a doubt.”

MacAnthony's reasoning is partly tactical: Ngumoha is comfortable on either flank, which gives Andoni Iraola a rotation option rather than a specialist who only works down one side.

The Diomande comparison

The comparison that generated the headlines involves Yan Diomande. Real Madrid are reported to have wrapped up negotiations with RB Leipzig over a deal worth in the region of €130 million for the forward, one of the largest transfers of the window, with only the formal announcement outstanding.

Even with that fee attached, MacAnthony argued that Liverpool have the better long-term prospect on their books, saying he would debate and argue that Ngumoha ends up with the superior career of the two.

Records already broken

The hype is not built on nothing. Ngumoha scored a stoppage-time winner on his Premier League debut to become Liverpool's youngest ever goalscorer, and inside a month he had also become the club's youngest Champions League player.

England manager Thomas Tuchel then handed him a friendly against New Zealand, where a second-half cameo earned him the player of the match award and prompted a wave of calls for him to be a fixture in the senior squad.

A vacancy on the right

The context at Anfield matters just as much. Mohamed Salah's departure at the end of last season closed the book on more than 250 goals and left a hole nobody signs their way out of in one window. Victor Munoz has arrived to add attacking depth, but the sense around the squad is that Ngumoha will be given real minutes rather than cameos.

Predictions are cheap in August. What is not in doubt is that Liverpool believe they have something rare, and that the rest of Europe has noticed.