Liverpool star backed by Wayne Rooney to follow in his footsteps and rub salt in for Chelsea

Wayne Rooney has tipped Liverpool sensation Rio Ngumoha to be the standout young star of the new Premier League season. The 16-year-old is making a name for himself as one of England's top emerging talents after an impressive pre-season, registering two goals and two assists.

After handing him his first-team debut for the reigning Premier League champions last season, Reds manager Arne Slot has been careful in managing expectations for the former Chelsea youth player. However, he was full of praise for him following his goal against Yokohama F Marinos last month.

With Luis Diaz recently moving to Bayern Munich, Cody Gakpo is now the only first-team left winger for Slot, potentially giving Ngumoha more chances to shine, particularly with Liverpool competing on multiple fronts this season.

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The youngster has already received a lot of praise, and Rooney added to it during a Premier League preview edition of Match of the Day. Alongside Kelly Cates, Danny Murphy and Julien Laurens, the England hero named Ngumoha, who turns 17 next month, as his pick for the breakout star of the season.

Rooney, who himself burst onto the scene at a similar age, also predicted that Liverpool would retain the Premier League title and selected Jeremie Frimpong as his choice for the most important signing this season.

He's also tipped Mohamed Salah to clinch a second consecutive Golden Boot, and fifth overall, ahead of the likes of Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak, with the latter potentially sharing the dressing room with the Egyptian this year given Liverpool's long-standing interest in him.

Slot's choice not to loan out Ngumoha, whose exit from Chelsea last year left the frustrated Blues taking their rivals to a tribunal, certainly shows the faith he has in him. The Dutchman insisted he possesses the capability to feature for the reigning champions, despite his tender age.

"I don't know what senior players exactly means, does that mean you play for your country or you're a certain age? Because a player like Rio showed in the last few games he played for us that, at senior level, he can make an impact as well," Slot said during pre-season.

He explained that, whilst the likes of Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni, 18, have talent in abundance, the club's staff have a responsibility to ensure they are taken care of. "They have an incredible chance to work and be every day around players like Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and all these others to see what they do, to be ready to perform every three days," Slot continued.

"And that is a step these players definitely have to make, which is completely normal if you're 16 or 17. It's already nice that they can play once a week at a good level, and we just try to develop them in the best way we can.

"But we also have to take care of them because new players that come in that are 23, 24, 22, already experienced that the intensity levels are quite high, either during the games or in training sessions, let alone for players that are 16 and coming through the academy."

Liverpool will kick off the 2025/26 Premier League campaign on Friday night as they host Bournemouth at Anfield.

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