Ngumoha reveals Salah's parting advice to him before leaving Liverpool

Rio Ngumoha has credited Mohamed Salah as the teammate who shaped his development most, revealing the Egyptian forward gave him pointed advice about end product in the final weeks before leaving Liverpool.

The 18-year-old winger, who earned a surprise call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s England squad ahead of the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, made a brief appearance off the bench against Czechia in Prague and could earn his first start when England face Croatia.

Speaking to The FA, Ngumoha described how Salah sought him out as his Anfield departure approached. “The player who I probably learned the most from is Mohamed Salah, when he was at Liverpool,” he said. “He taught me a lot, especially towards the back end when he knew he was leaving. He helped me a lot.”

Salah’s message was direct and numbers-driven. “He was always telling me: ‘Rio, you know you’re a good player but to reach the top, you have to add the goals and assists,’” Ngumoha recalled. “And it will come naturally but he was just going through little things like that with me.”

Ngumoha admitted the early conversations carried a surreal quality. “When he first started talking to me, it was like: ‘Wow! I’ve been watching you since I was young and you’re telling me how to improve.’ But then over time, I saw him as a very good team-mate and he was helping me a lot, so I can thank him much more.”

On his own international ambitions, the teenager said he always believed an England cap would come early, even if the timing surprised him. “I definitely had the confidence to believe I could wear the England shirt at 18. Did I think it’d be the first camp? Maybe not. But I definitely knew that I’d be playing one day when I was still pretty young.”

Ngumoha also drew comparisons with Jude Bellingham and Wayne Rooney as players who made their marks for club and country at a young age, expressing hope that his own trajectory would follow a similar path. “It’s going to be a good journey I think, yes,” he said.