Mohamed Salah admitted he told 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha to keep his head down and stay “humble” in an effort to keep the breakout talent from peaking too early at Liverpool.
Despite the influx of superstars at Liverpool this summer, Ngumoha has emerged as one of the most exciting young players to don a red shirt. The teenager shined in preseason, recording two goals and two assists in four appearances before he played hero at St. James’ Park.
In his Premier League debut, Ngumoha bagged the winner for Arne Slot’s men deep into stoppage time to secure a thrilling 3–2 victory over an undermanned Newcastle United side. At 16 years and 361 days old, Ngumoha became the youngest goalscorer in Liverpool history, overtaking Ben Woodburn.
The storybook moment for the winger came with plenty of attention and hype on social media, something Salah pleaded with Ngumoha to ignore.
“I told [Ngumoha] after the game: Just leave the social media alone,” Salah revealed in an interview with Men in Blazers’ Roger Bennett. “OK, you can be happy about the goal with your family, with your friends. Enjoy the moment to the max because it’s like your first moments in football.
“But don’t really get engaged and just get your appreciation from outside world because it’s always going to be fake. You’re going to always try to seek that—that feeling from outside if you just get the appreciation from outside,” Salah said.
Salah recently made waves on social media himself after calling out a Liverpool fan account for a post he said was “disrespecting” Luis Díaz and Darwin Núñez, two players that left Anfield this summer to join Bayern Munich and Al Hilal respectively.
It comes as no surprise then that the Egyptian winger cautioned Ngumoha against falling into the world of online validation or criticism, even when it is seemingly coming from Liverpool supporters.
Salah also weighed in on the bright future of the young forward, who made Liverpool’s 2025–26 Champions League squad over Federico Chiesa.
“So what future is waiting for him? It depends how he’s going to handle the situation,” Salah said. “How are we going to work? I need [him] to work hard and just stay humble because he’s very young. I told him that some players peak too early and they’re going to struggle after that.
Liverpool are monitoring the progress of Ngumoha instead of just throwing him into the spotlight week in and week out. With the additions of Hugo Ekitiké and now Alexander Isak to Slot’s attack, the club can afford to take their time with Ngumoha.
“I really wish him the best. He has a good group and we always try to speak with him—and the manager also speaks to him, so he just needs to stay humble and work and see how things go,” Salah finished.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Going to Struggle’—Mohamed Salah Reveals Advice for Liverpool’s Record-Breaking Teenager.
