Expectations around the rise to stardom of Rio Ngumoha will no doubt be sky high next season as the teenage Liverpool winger looks to play a key role in Andoni Iraola's new-look side.
The former Chelsea academy prospect made 19 appearances under Arne Slot last season, most of them from the bench, as he announced himself in the Premier League by scoring a dramatic injury-time winner against Newcastle United last August.
Slot remained cautious about how he used the youngster throughout the season, but began to start him in matches towards the end as the Reds looked to secure Champions League qualification in what had overall been a disappointing campaign.
Ngumoha's only other Premier League goal of the season came against Fulham at Anfield on April 11, but there were more opportunities to come after the season had concluded.
Thomas Tuchel opted to take him to North America as part of an extended England party to help prepare the 26-man squad he had already selected for the Three Lions' World Cup assault. And while it was probably not part of the plan, the young Liverpool winger stole the show in warm-up matches, dazzling against New Zealand before scoring what has been described as a 'breathtaking goal' in a behind-closed-doors match against a Miami XI.
The rave reviews led to suggestions that Tuchel perhaps should have included Ngumoha in his World Cup squad as a wildcard option and could have even regretted not doing so, but former England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce believes that the correct approach has been taken and has explained why he believes that calling up young players such as Ngumoha and Arsenal teenager Max Dowman can work against them.
Speaking with Boyle Sports, Pearce, who won 78 caps for England as a player, said: "When I was Under-21 manager for six years, I would only call a player up from a younger age group if they were going straight into the Under-21 starting lineup. The issue with not doing that and bringing players up just to sit on the bench is that it breaks the pathway.
"If you take a player like Dowman out of his age group, or someone like Rio Ngumoha, and put him with the seniors as a vanity project, you're disrupting that development pathway.
"We saw it before with Theo Walcott in 2012. He was fast-tracked into senior tournaments but only ended up playing a handful of games in major summer competitions. He missed Olympic Games, Under-21 tournaments, and Under-20 tournaments because he was elevated too early.
"When you look at players like Messi and Ronaldo, they've played a huge number of games at youth level. That experience matters.
"The point is simple: if you're going to take a young player, then you either play him or you leave him where he is. If you're not going to start him, it's a vanity project."
Ngumoha's work in North America is complete for this summer, but he will soon be back at the AXA Training Ground, where he will have the chance to meet new Liverpool boss Iraola and establish exactly what role he has to play in the Spaniard's plans as the Reds look to put a below-par season behind them under a new managerial regime.
