{"id":271345,"date":"2025-07-18T06:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T06:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271345\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T06:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T06:32:10","slug":"arne-slot-could-give-16-year-old-liverpool-wonderkid-first-team-chances-if-luis-diaz-leaves-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271345\/","title":{"rendered":"Arne Slot could give 16-year-old Liverpool wonderkid first-team chances if Luis Diaz leaves this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>TBR Football can exclusively confirm that Liverpool manager Arne Slot could be tempted to give one of his academy stars first-team chances this season.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tbrfootball.com\/topic\/liverpool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Liverpool<\/a> winger <a href=\"https:\/\/tbrfootball.com\/topic\/luis-diaz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Luis Diaz<\/a> currently faces an uncertain future at Anfield and there\u2019s a chance he could leave the club over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Diaz\u00a0has been left unhappy with\u00a0Liverpool\u2019s\u00a0unwillingness to sell him or make him a contract offer.<\/p>\n<p>As\u00a0<strong>TBR Football<\/strong>\u00a0reported earlier this month,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tbrfootball.com\/liverpool-star-growing-frustrated-as-contract-talks-stall-and-big-clubs-circle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Liverpool are not on speaking terms with Diaz<\/a>\u00a0over a new deal, having backed away from their decision to sit down with him.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst Liverpool would look for a replacement in case Diaz goes, there\u2019s a youth team player who could get more opportunities to impress in his place.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2193402096-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Rio Ngumoha of Liverpool looks on during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Liverpool and Accrington Stanley at Anfield on January 11, 2025\" class=\"wp-image-905950\" \/>Photo by Liverpool FC\/Liverpool FC via Getty ImagesLiverpool could give Rio Ngumoha first-team chances<\/p>\n<p><strong>TBR Football <\/strong>chief correspondent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tbrfootball.com\/topic\/graeme-bailey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Graeme Bailey<\/a> can confirm that Rio Ngumoha could be in line for game time in case Diaz is sold.<\/p>\n<p>Ngumoha has been making waves at Liverpool since joining from Chelsea in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the 16-year-old has already made his competitive senior debut for the Reds, starting the FA Cup third-round win over Accrington Stanley last season.<\/p>\n<p>Although Liverpool will still be looking for reinforcements on the left if Diaz leaves, Ngumoha could find himself in the first-team picture next season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf both Nunez and Diaz leave, Liverpool are expected to sign a left winger and a centre forward to fill those gaps,\u201d Bailey exclusively told <strong>TBR Football<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut separately, there\u2019s talk about Rio Ngumoha, a 16-year-old who could be involved with the first team next season. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Ngumoha gets opportunities on the left alongside players like Cody Gakpo, it raises the question of how urgent the need really is for another left-sided signing. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut from what I\u2019m hearing, Liverpool still want to bring someone in for that position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/tbrfootball.com\/hugo-ekitikes-boss-at-reims-sends-warning-to-arne-slot-as-liverpool-move-looms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hugo Ekitike\u2019s boss at Reims sends warning to Arne Slot as Liverpool move looms<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>When Rio Ngumoha is expected to sign Liverpool contract<\/p>\n<p>Ngumoha joined Liverpool as a 15-year-old, meaning he could only sign scholarship terms due to restrictions on youth signings.<\/p>\n<p>However, with Ngumoha turning 17 in August, he will become eligible to sign his first professional contract.<\/p>\n<p>And Liverpool are expected to tie Ngumoha down to a new contract once he turns 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TBR Football can exclusively confirm that Liverpool manager Arne Slot could be tempted to give one of his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,162,10265,4884,179,61654,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-271345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-english-premier-league","11":"tag-graeme-bailey","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-rio-ngumoha","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114872840603686711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}