Arne Slot details Rio Ngumoha plan as Liverpool boss faces growing calls - 'Let's be clear'

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Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCArne Slot has his say as calls grow for teenager winger Rio Ngumoha to be given more senior minutes at LiverpoolArne Slot will resist calls to hand Rio Ngumoha more senior minutes for Champions League-chasing Liverpool - insisting the teenager is in an ideal position at this stage of his career.Ngumoha became Liverpool's youngest scorer of all time when he struck the winning goal in dramatic circumstances at Newcastle United in late August, just days before his 17th birthday.However, he has played just 89 minutes of senior league football, which have been spread across nine appearances, including his enterprising cameo off the bench in last Sunday's 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.READ MORE: Arne Slot launches passionate defence of Liverpool transfers and makes £450m claim - 'I only ever see'READ MORE: Arne Slot sends clear message to Mohamed Salah and Liverpool forwards - 'this has happened before'As a result of that display, the noise has grown for the England Under-19 international to be given more time on the pitch as the Reds look to secure their participation in next season's Champions League - starting with a visit from West Ham United on Saturday afternoon.Speaking last week at the City Ground, Ngumoha said he was hopeful for more opportunities going forward but Slot concedes he must carefully manage the teenage winger."Let’s be clear, he is a special player that will have more playing time and already has more playing time recently," said the Liverpool head coach."If everyone thinks he is so good, then he should be in something to talk about again. If he is already good enough to play for us, then he should definitely be, in your opinion."(I'm mindful over lack of under-21s football) 100% - that is what makes it so difficult at the age of these two players (Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni) and where they are at in their development.

(They are) good enough to come in or to play for us, to be on the bench, (with) our squad not being big enough."So we always need them on the bench and that also means that if you look at his playing time and Trey’s playing time, overall that has not been enough to develop a player ideally in a better way. But that is the downside of having injuries, the downside of they are a bit too good (for the U21s)."Because it would be better for a 17, 18-year-old, because no-one talks about Trey, which is correct because Rio had his special moment, but Trey's development is just as interesting in my opinion.

That is the difficult balance for me to find."Slot added: "I don’t know if they play tonight, but let’s say they play tonight, for the U21s, sometimes I let them play 60 minutes just to have them available at the weekend but in an ideal world, a 17, 18, 19-year-old plays a lot of minutes, any level."But like I said, if I play them over there I can’t have them on the bench and if I don’t have these two on the bench, then probably I only have three or four players on the bench."Liverpool FCArne SlotRio Ngumoha