Just days after Arne Slot talked up the importance of attackers leading from the front, one of the most exciting young forwards in the Liverpool ranks did exactly that.

Rio Ngumoha scored twice as Liverpool’s Under-23s drew with Aston Villa on Saturday.

The 16-year-old’s first brace at Premier League 2 level.



Ngumoha enjoyed a senior Liverpool debut in the FA Cup against Accrington Stanley in January and, after Arne Slot talked up the Reds teenager on the back of a lively display, he made the transition from Under-18 football to the Under-23s look pretty seamless.

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But the second of his Saturday brace owed much to the groundwork laid down by another red-clad teen sensation by the name of Keyrol Figueroa.

While perhaps not revered as say Nguhoma or a Trey Nyoni, Figueroa is confident he can follow in Daniel Sturridge’s footsteps and prove himself to be a ‘complete’ centre-forward at senior level.

“When I was younger, I was just about old enough to watch [Didier] Drogba, [Sergio] Aguero,” Figueroa told the official Liverpool website recently.

I think I’m a complete, total finisher – I can finish with my left, my right or my head.”

Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images

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As Slot was keen to point out on Friday, speaking ahead of the 1-0 win over Leicester City, a Liverpool striker must offer more than goals.

With the Reds in the market for a new number nine – Darwin Nunez is expected to leave for Saudi Arabia – Slot wants a centre-forward capable not only of guaranteeing a regular source of goals but also one who can press from the front and force opposition defenders into mistakes.

Mistakes like the one committed by Aston Villa goalkeeper Oliwier Zych.

Though, on the evidence of that Villa clash, he does share his father’s penchant for the unexpected.

This is not the first time that Figueroa’s intelligence off the ball and his excellent endeavour has proven to be a difference-maker in the final third.

“Defensively, he is a good presser,” Goal write in their analysis of a young forward they liken to the Liverpool-linked Victor Osimhen.

“[Figueroa] has scored a few goals for the Under-18s thanks to his diligent work rate and intercepting passes in the final third.”

Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images

Turn that potential into productivity and prove himself capable of possessing Osimhen-esque finishes, meanwhile, and Keyrol Figueroa might just come into Arne Slot’s thinking as pre-season looms on the horizon.

“You want the difficult answer of the simple answer?” Slot said on Friday when asked what he is looking for fro ma Liverpool Centre-forward.

“But in the end it’s helpful that the number nine of Liverpool scores goals.”