“Whenever I get the ball and there’s an opportunity to go one-v-one or two-v-one, I believe in myself. I’ll just keep going and be ruthless.”

Rio Ngumoha has the gift to make people either fall in love or stay in love with football that comes through a combination of extraordinary talent and playing in an environment which cherishes and nurtures his youthful exuberance.

He looks like he’s ‘having a kick about in the park with his mates’ a la Cole Palmer, Rayan Cherki or Lamine Yamal.

Come to think of it, there would be few things worse than throwing down jumpers for goalposts with any of them around. But the sentiment is supposed to be a joyous one tapping in to our nostalgia, rather than reminding us of a crushing existential crisis that would surely have arrived upon comparing what you believed to be your more than adequate footballing ability at the age of 14 with a 9-year-old future Ballon d’Or winner.

But anyway, there has been talk of late of Ngumoha moving on to pastures new amid ‘serious’ interest from both Bayern Munich and Arsenal. But after five starts and 444 minutes of action under Andoni Iraola already this season, reports suggest the 18-year-old is happy with his lot at Liverpool.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has confirmed “there are active conversations ongoing between Rio Ngumoha and Liverpool over a new, long-term contract”, and elsewhere it’s been claimed that the Reds are ‘on the verge’ of tying him down.

After coming off the bench to turn the Brentford game on its head and claiming two assists in another dramatic turnaround against Villarreal on Tuesday, Ngumoha was asked about Iraola’s impact on his displays.

“He wants me to take on one-v-one duels; he wants me to be a threatening player,” the teenager said. “I am just taking on what he is saying and looking to improve. I am enjoying working with him and enjoying improving.”

He might just be in the perfect place.

Estevao’s struggle for minutes at Chelsea justifies his decision to leave the Blues academy for Liverpool. His path to the Bayern first team would be firmly blocked by Michael Olise and Luis Diaz as things stand. And both Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze serve as warnings over a move to Arsenal to play under Mikel Arteta.

Saka looks half the player he was a couple of years ago. Injuries and playing through those injuries have taken their toll on a brilliant footballer who – quite simply – has played far too much football.

A guy we used to hail as unstoppable despite knowing precisely what he was going to do – namely twinkle-toeing his way down the wing before cutting inside and swinging a shot into the top corner – is now no more than one of Arsenal’s mediocre forwards.

When was the last time we saw Saka make that Saka move? He’s presumably had the beating of his full-back on plenty of occasions of late, but has any opposition player been given the real runaround by Saka or embarrassed by him? That used to be a regular occurrence.

His and Arsenal’s concern should be whether he can ever salvage the inevitable quality he had, which he discovered against the odds under a manager who makes it very, very difficult to thrive as an attacking player.

Just ask Eberechi Eze, who looked mighty forlorn after being hooked at half-time in favour of match winner Noni Madueke against Nottingham Forest on Sunday and has never been considered a first-choice option after signing for £70m in the summer of 2025.

Moments of the Crystal Palace version of Eze at the Emirates have been too fleeting to notice and after seeing quite enough of him being shoehorned into a left wing spot he’s unsuited to while Martin Odegaard occupies the No.10 position when fit and Arteta will naturally lean on bigger boys like Mikel Merino and Bruno Guimaraes when he’s not, Eze’s Arsenal career could soon be at an end.

He would never admit this and a Premier League winner’s medal may trump all, but he would almost certainly being enjoying his football more – the act of playing it, not the results – had he joined Tottenham. What could be more damning of Arsenal and Arteta than that?

So steer clear, Rio, because it may be fast or slow, but forwards die a death under Arteta at Arsenal, while Iraola looks set to provide just enough instruction to enhance those enviable qualities rather than neutralising them for a greater but far less enjoyable good.