Chelsea are believed to be “furious” having seen one of their brightest talents Rio Ngumoha leave their academy to join Premier League rivals Liverpool.
Fabrizio Romano originally reported that the Reds were trying to sign the 15-year-old and the transfer journalist confirmed on Wednesday that everything was complete for the youngster to play his football on Merseyside throughout the 2024/25 campaign.
This has left Chelsea furious, reports the Liverpool Echo, having lost one of the brightest talents in their academy.
The report states that Liverpool had been tracking Ngumoha for a while and were determined to complete a move for the England Under-16 international during the current transfer window.
The 15-year-old is expected to initially join up with Liverpool’s Under-18s and if his progress is deemed sufficient, there is a strong likelihood that the youngster will be fast-tracked to the Reds’ Under-21s.
There is a lot of hype around Ngumoha having been named player of the tournament when Chelsea Under-16s were crowned national champions last October and in January, his progress was rewarded with a debut for the Blues’ Under-21s.
Chelsea will be entitled to compensation from Liverpool for developing the attacker until now, but that will not ease the blow of losing a potential future superstar.
It is not hard to see why Ngumoha has decided to leave Chelsea to join Liverpool as the 15-year-old has clearly thought about the path he wants to take in his career.
The Merseyside club have been known to give young talent a chance and that was evident last season when several youngsters were promoted to the first team by Jurgen Klopp and even featured in the Carabao Cup final against the London club.
The current ownership at Stamford Bridge have been buying loads of young players and it doesn’t look like they are going to stop anytime soon. This will hamper the progress of the Premier League club’s young talent, although several did break into Chelsea’s senior team last season under Mauricio Pochettino.
This is likely to have played a key role in Ngumoha’s decision and it has resulted in Liverpool gaining one of England’s top young talents.
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