Liverpool brewing homegrown Dembele who could possibly be “on the Ballon d’Or listing”

Liverpool and Arne Slot have confronted a hefty quantity of criticism all through the early weeks of the 2025/26 season, with analysts and rivals criticising the Premier League champions’ tactical imbalances.

Indicators of defensive points and a wrestle to take care of a lead lend credence to this viewpoint, certain, but it surely solely stretches to this point. Liverpool have not fairly been on the races this season, and but they’ve pranced right into a five-point lead on the prime of the desk, and so they gained their Champions League opener too.

Having gained the league at a canter final time period and having strengthened significantly this summer time, the Reds could be forgiven for having began the yr with out the cast-iron sureness of final yr, particularly since many late objectives have been scored already, and difficult opponents equivalent to Newcastle United, Arsenal and Everton have been put to the sword.

Alexander Isak has solely simply been built-in after his record-breaking transfer, and there is not any denying Florian Wirtz, 22, has left one thing to be desired since finishing his £116m switch from Bayer Leverkusen.

Nevertheless, these items will come, and anyway, Liverpool’s pre-existing superstars stay on the prime of their sport, having been recognised for his or her abilities on the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday night in Paris.

Liverpool’s Ballon d’Or nominees

Ousmane Dembele accomplished his redemption arc and was topped the Males’s Ballon d’Or winner after main Paris Saint-Germain to a quadruple and their first-ever Champions League title.

The 27-year-old scored 35 objectives and supplied 16 assists throughout all competitions, and was awarded the Champions League and Ligue 1 Participant of the Season honours.

There is not any query that he was a deserving winner; nonetheless, he bested a number of rivals who would have fancied themselves worthy of the award themselves.

Mohamed Salah may need felt a way of grievance, and never for the primary time. The 33-year-old Egyptian got here fourth after scoring 34 objectives and supplying 23 assists for Liverpool final season, spearheading Slot’s title cost.

It was one of many biggest particular person campaigns in Premier League historical past, and that is inarguable. But it surely wasn’t sufficient for Salah to achieve the rostrum for the maiden time in his profession.

Likewise, Virgil van Dijk could have furtively scratched his head after studying his spot was twenty eighth. The captain and defender supreme for the English top-flight champions, he has been a monstrous presence in Slot’s system, however the truth that no centre-half ranked larger than him is maybe a marker of the award’s lopsidedness.

Alexis Mac Allister was additionally on the listing, coming in at twenty second.

New boy Wirtz got here in at quantity 29, and followers at the moment are eagerly anticipating his clicking into gear and making good on the “generational expertise“, as he has been named by journalist Chris Stonadge, that prompted FSG to spend the large bucks.

Wirtz will fancy his shot at claiming that iconic golden ball sooner or later, however Salah and Van Dijk are approaching the top of their probabilities.

Who would possibly problem Liverpool’s German playmaker within the years to come back? Nicely, Dembele is likely to be the speak of the city proper now, however the Anfield facet even have their very own model, and he is been slated for a shot down the road.

Liverpool’s future Ballon d’Or candidate

Liverpool have a workforce that’s replete with expertise, each younger and previous. Many gamers’ ceilings attain excessive above, however none extra so than Rio Ngumoha, who, having turned 17 final month, is already driving the crest of a wave in Slot’s squad.

Poached from Chelsea in the summertime of 2024, Ngumoha rapidly established himself as a reduce above the others within the Reds academy system, making his skilled debut aged 16 as Liverpool beat Accrington Stanley 4-0 within the FA Cup. He did not rating, the electric-paced left winger, however he caught the attention.

Nevertheless, Ngumoha clearly had a fan in Slot, that includes closely all through pre-season. Liverpool offered Luis Diaz this summer time, however a direct alternative was not welcomed by the gates. Herein lies the largest endorsement, with Ngumoha entrusted with an everyday first-team function.

And Slot was vindicated at St. James’ Park, when Ngumoha completed coolly after Dominik Szoboszlai’s dummy to seal all three factors on the final second, silencing an till then raucous Newcastle crowd, relishing of their second-half comeback.

One of many youngest goalscorers in Premier League historical past, Ngumoha is mooted for a beginning berth when Liverpool host Southampton within the Carabao Cup third spherical, and it would not be a shock to see the England U19 worldwide make an excellent impression as soon as extra.

The sky is the restrict, and even then, it is likely to be too low. Ngumoha should be inculcated into the way in which of issues over a variety of years, his prodigious potential drip-fed to the Premier League and to Europe, the place he has already made his bow.

{The teenager} is in the fitting setting, to make certain. And there’s no query that he has the capability to succeed.

In reality, Ngumoha has truly been billed as having the expertise to wedge his means onto the elite desk down the road, with Chelsea youth coach Saul Isaksson-Hurst raving about the participant’s brilliance at the same time as a child, saying, “he is likely one of the greatest academy abilities I’ve come throughout.”

Isaksson-Hurst then took his effusions one step additional: “I instructed his brother I anticipate him to see him on the Ballon d’Or listing in the future, I imagine he can try this.”

Not unhealthy, Rio. After all, the hardest half remains to be forward of him, and it is a lengthy and treacherous street at that. However Ngumoha has the potential to develop into a focus at Liverpool, and followers should be excited as they watch him develop and bloom and develop into superstardom.