The Age of Teen Stars

The English football world has spread interesting news, that is, Chelsea's Cobham training ground has decided to "ban" all scouts related to Liverpool.

Rio Ngumoha shines at the age of 17 - Photo: Reuters

It was all thanks to Rio Ngumoha - who just broke the record for the youngest player to score in Liverpool's history. Specifically, he sealed a 3-2 victory for his team against Newcastle in the latest match of round 2 of the Premier League.

Why is Liverpool slow?

Ngumoha turned 17 at the end of August. He was brought on in the 90+5 minute, when the score was 2-2. At that time, Liverpool had almost no other options in attack. The "Red Brigade" was equalized 2-2 by Newcastle despite playing with one more man in the entire second half (Newcastle's Gordon was sent off at the end of the first half), completely losing in spirit. And they could have lost even more if coach Arne Slot had not made timely personnel changes.

And just four minutes after coming on, Ngumoha scored the winner for his team. It was a perfect goal, coming from a wonderful combination between Salah and Szoboszlai. And that goal is why Chelsea banned Liverpool scouts from their training ground.

Last summer, Ngumoha was still a player in Chelsea's academy. Born to Nigerian immigrants, Ngumoha joined Cobham at the age of eight. After eight years growing up there, Ngumoha's family chose to join Liverpool through a "backdoor" deal. Chelsea were furious, as they were famous for "harvesting" young players from other clubs.

In just one week at the beginning of August, Liverpool quickly completed two deals selling Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, earning nearly 130 million euros. Even with the purchase of Isak, Liverpool's attack is still quite lacking.

But looking at Ngumoha's performance in the match yesterday morning, fans of the "Red Brigade" can understand why their team is slow in finding a replacement for Diaz and Nunez. After a year of training at the new team, Ngumoha is now no different from a quality contract.

Every team has a U18 star.

The inspiration of Barca's Lamine Yamal is everywhere. And the Premier League - the toughest league on the planet - turns out to be a great environment for teenage stars to shine. Last season, Arsenal introduced two U18 stars, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri (both 17 last year). Both quickly established themselves as key players in the team, and they became Arsenal's "super subs".

But like Chelsea, Arsenal excel at developing young players, even transferring players in the U18 age group. But sometimes they stumble in their own area of ​​expertise. A typical example is the deal of Ayden Heaven - who left Arsenal for Man United in January. Arsenal "snatch" Heaven from West Ham's youth academy when he was 14, before losing the 18-year-old centre-back to Man United.

U18 superstars are now flooding the Premier League’s big clubs. It’s a romance, a breakthrough and a surprise that strategists are ready to throw at their opponents.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thoi-cua-nhung-ngoi-sao-tuoi-teen-20250827084957836.htm