John Terry 'gutted' over Rio Ngumoha's switch from Chelsea to Liverpool and compares youngster to Blues great

Ngumoha joined Chelsea's academy at the age of eight and was with the Blues until 2024, when he decided to switch Stamford Bridge for Anfield. The transfer angered Chelsea so much that scouts from the Reds are no longer allowed to visit the Blues' academy centre in Cobham. 

Ngumoha made the first professional appearance of his career in January earlier this year in an FA Cup victory over Accrington Stanley and, after impressing over the summer during pre-season, he was thrown into the action as Liverpool chased a winner against Newcastle at St James' Park on Monday night. He came up with the goods in the 100th minute to earn Arne Slot's side the victory and Terry has now admitted Ngumoha's departure from Chelsea's academy remains a painful one.

Terry told The Sun: “He is a very ambitious boy who wanted to play first-team football and believed that was his pathway into Liverpool's first team. I’m still in contact with him, but he's just a fantastic player.

“We had a really good Under-14 team and he was a big part of that. You don't see too many players that are exciting like him anymore. There's going to be many more over the years that as an academy you lose, but there's always one that you think, 'I'm a bit gutted we missed out on that one'.

“He was a very confident player, taking the ball on the back foot, lots of personality, very confident in himself.

“Since the likes of [Eden] Hazard and Joe Cole and those types of players that are very confident and get the fans off their seat as well…I think football's become a little bit stale and a little bit kind of tactical over the last four or five years."

Ngumoha will hope for more minutes with the Liverpool first-team after his heroics at Newcastle. The next match is a huge one, however, with the Reds set to battle fellow Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday.