Liverpool wonderkid Rio Ngumoha has committed his future to the club until 2028.
The 17-year-old has signed a fresh contract believed to be worth £52,000 per year, the maximum for a first-year pro at Liverpool, though he can earn more through bonuses.
That eclipses the standard scholar’s annual salary of £14,400 that he was previously on.
Liverpool had to wait until he turned 17 last month before they were allowed to hand him a professional contract. As per the FA’s rulebook, the maximum they can hand out for a player of his age is three years.
Ngumoha has made a stunning impression on the first team and appears to be fully trusted by Arne Slot. He quickly rose through the under-18s and under-21s and was handed his full debut against Accrington Stanley back in January.
After scoring the winner against Newcastle on his Premier League debut in August, he has gone on to play three more times and even featured in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid.
Liverpool wonderkid Rio Ngumoha has signed a new deal worth £52,000 per year until 2028
Arne Slot trusts the 17-year-old, who people think could be a future Ballon d’Or winner
His goal against Newcastle made him their youngest-ever Premier League goalscorer and he is also their youngest star to feature in Europe.
He has become a capable deputy for Cody Gakpo on the left flank and such is his talent that Liverpool felt they did not need to replace Luis Diaz when he joined Bayern Munich over the summer.
He joined for free from Chelsea last year in a controversial switch which is the subject of a bitter compensation war between the two clubs.
In November, Inside Sport revealed that outraged Stamford Bridge officials felt they had lost ‘a generational talent’ and that a tribunal had been called to set a fee for the wonderkid.
A decision, which will be made by a Premier League panel, remains elusive almost a year after he made the switch – and Chelsea will believe that Ngumoha’s dazzling debut may well strengthen their case for significant compensation.
The move passed the Premier League’s five-step process, although that did little to appease those in west London.
Such was the anger at the time that Chelsea were understood to have banned Liverpool’s youth scouts from attending academy matches.
Daily Mail Sport recently revealed how one of his first coaches at Chelsea, Saul Isaksson-Hurst, even joked while Ngumoha was a child that he would be a future Ballon d’Or winner.
