Liverpool’s answer has not changed
Rio Ngumoha is staying. The 18-year-old winger and Liverpool struck an agreement in principle over a new contract earlier this month, and the talks to turn that into a signed, binding deal are still running this morning. Nobody close to them expects a problem.
Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke reported today that Liverpool are “desperate to keep hold of Ngumoha” and that the player himself is happy on Merseyside, with regular starts lined up this season. That last part matters more than the numbers. Ngumoha has spent the past year being told, by half of Europe, that he would get more minutes somewhere else.
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Why Arsenal keep getting mentioned
Arsenal want a left winger. They let Gabriel Martinelli go without signing a direct replacement, Leandro Trossard was swapped for Christos Tzolis, and summer moves for Morgan Rogers and Vinicius Junior both collapsed. David Ornstein said he “could see something happening” in January.
That is the entire basis for the Ngumoha noise. Fabrizio Romano has been blunt about how far it went: Liverpool’s message, through the Bayern Munich rumours of the summer and everything since, was that the player is not for sale and that no negotiation ever opened. Arsenal have not made an offer because there was never an opening to make one.
The 2027 question
Romano still expects interest to build. He named 2027 and 2028 as the windows when Arsenal would move if a chance appeared, and pointed out that clubs abroad will be watching just as closely. A new contract does not kill that. It sets the price and buys Liverpool the years they want.
The deal is not signed yet, and Liverpool know a teenager with this profile attracts a fresh round of calls every window. Arsenal, meanwhile, still need someone for that left flank in January, and the shortlist is getting shorter.
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