Rio Ngumoha: “Amazing finisher” signs first professional contract with Liverpool as deal details revealed

Liverpool have announced that teenage sensation Rio Ngumoha has signed his first professional contract with the club.

The highly-rated attacker, who turned 17 at the end of last month, joined the Merseyside giants in September 2024 having previously spent eight years in Chelsea’s academy.

Born in Newham in East London, Ngumoha made his full senior debut for Liverpool in a 4-0 FA Cup win at home to Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup third round in January, which represented his only first-team appearance in the 2024-25 campaign.

However, Ngumoha was made a permanent member of Arne Slot’s squad over the summer after making a notable impression during pre-season and he has already featured four times for the first team in the new campaign.

At the age of just 16 years and 361 days, Ngumoha became the youngest goalscorer in Liverpool's history when he netted a dramatic stoppage-time winner in the 3-2 Premier League victory at Newcastle United at the end of August, just four minutes after coming off the substitutes’ bench.

“Amazing finisher” Ngumoha sign first pro contract with Liverpool

Slot heaped praise on the youngster after the match, telling reporters: “He’s a player that can finish really well for his age. How firm his shot was, you don’t see this often for a 16-year-old.

“I did hear someone afterwards in the dressing room, I won’t say who, said they would have taken that ball, have a first touch, then finish it off, but he is so confident.

“That’s what I like, because the first ball he got he wasn’t afraid. He immediately took someone on. When the second player came, he got across him, and for him to score that goal is not completely a coincidence because for his age he is an amazing finisher.”

Ngumoha has since made his Champions League debut against Atletico Madrid as a second-half substitute, before starting and playing for 75 minutes in Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Southampton in the EFL Cup third round on Tuesday.

Reds’ supporters will now be pleased to learn that the impressive rise of the lightning-quick winger has been rewarded with his first professional contract.

Rio Ngumoha has signed his first professional contract with the Reds ✍️

Congratulations, Rio ?
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 25, 2025

Ngumoha commits future to Liverpool by penning ‘three-year deal’

Liverpool have not disclosed the length of Ngumoha’s contract, but The Athletic claims that the youngster has put pen to paper on a three-year deal to keep him at Anfield until 2028.

The report adds that a tribunal has yet to decide on the size of the compensation fee that Liverpool will be required to pay following his arrival from Chelsea 12 months ago.

English Football Association rules state that all players must wait until their 17th birthday before they are allowed to sign a professional contract, and the longest contract a 17-year-old can sign is three years.

According to the Daily Mail, Ngumoha is now earning £52,000 per year - the maximum for a first-year professional at Liverpool, though the youngster can earn more through bonuses - and that eclipses his previous scholar's annual salary of £14,400.

Confirmation of Ngumoha’s contract comes just under a month after Liverpool attacker Cody Gakpo extended his deal at the club until the summer of 2028.

Both Ngumoha and Gakpo will be in contention to feature for Liverpool in their next Premier League fixture away against Crystal Palace on Saturday.