At 16 years and 361 days old, Liverpool’s new prodigy has etched his name into the record books: the club’s youngest-ever goalscorer, fourth-youngest in Premier League history, and the second-youngest to score a match-winning goal. A debut strikingly similar to that of Wayne Rooney.
Football’s future belongs to teenagers shattering records. With Lamine Yamal already a serious contender for the Ballon d’Or, Liverpool are also revelling in their own wonderkid: Rio Ngumoha. At St James’ Park, he decided the match in the 100th minute, as if scoring in the Premier League at just 16 years and 361 days old wasn’t already epic enough.
His name is now immortalised in two record books. In Liverpool’s, as he is now the youngest player in their history to score a goal in that hallowed shirt, and in the Premier League’s own annals. Only James Vaughan (Everton), at 16 years and 270 days; James Milner (Leeds), at 16 years and 356 days, and Wayne Rooney (Everton), at 16 years and 360 days, managed to score earlier in a domestic league match.
His debut is remarkably comparable to Wayne Rooney’s, due to the many similarities. Both had already made their official debuts for their respective teams, and only one day separates the age at which they scored their first goal. Moreover, the goal secured all three points for his team, a feat that only the now-manager had achieved before turning 17. Even the technique of the goal mirrored each other, with the contact on the inside of the foot bearing striking similarities.
However, Ngumoha’s Rooney 2.0 had a more dramatic edge. It was directly his first Premier League match. In fact, he had only been on the pitch for four minutes when he sparked pandemonium amongst the Reds by finishing off that desperate attack.
Many predict that he will be one of football’s next big stars in the very near future. At Anfield, they already knew it, and they hope that he will continue to bring joy to the team this season.