Liverpool Firm on Rio Ngumoha Amid Bayern Interest

Liverpool are digging in over Rio Ngumoha.

Bayern Munich have circled, Europe’s elite have taken note, and for a while Liverpool were listening. Now the message from Anfield is blunt: he is not for sale this summer.

The 17-year-old winger, signed from Chelsea in 2024, had originally been viewed as a longer-term asset, someone who could develop in the under-18s and under-21s while the club kept the door open to a future sale with a buy-back or option attached. That was the early plan, according to The Secret Scout, whose account detailed Liverpool’s initial openness to a European move.

Then Ngumoha started playing.

His performances across the season have forced a rethink. TEAMtalk’s transfer insider Graeme Bailey reports that Liverpool have “no plans whatsoever” to sell the teenager in this window. Internal sources now say the club intend to sit down with Ngumoha to discuss a new contract, locking in a player they increasingly regard as a core part of their future.

The tone around him has changed dramatically. The Secret Scout’s update on X summed up the internal mood: Liverpool are aware of interest from top European clubs, Bayern Munich among them, but now believe they have “one of the best wingers in the world” in the making. Any deal, they stress, would require a “huge” fee.

For Bayern, searching for a new left-winger and seeing Ngumoha as an ideal fit, that stance is a significant obstacle. For Liverpool, it is a clear statement about where their rebuild is headed: youth, upside, and control.

Gakpo unsettled as Spurs circle

If Ngumoha is being ring-fenced, Cody Gakpo’s situation looks very different.

According to Dutch outlet Soccer News, the Netherlands international “wishes to leave” Liverpool following a dramatic change in the dugout. Fenway Sports Group’s decision to sack Arne Slot before he had even taken charge and replace him with Andoni Iraola has, the report claims, left Gakpo looking for the exit.

Tottenham Hotspur are described as having “serious interest” in the winger. Behind the scenes, Spurs are said to be working on a plan to convince both Gakpo and Liverpool in the coming weeks. For a player who arrived with high expectations and has shown flashes of his PSV form without fully nailing down a defined role, a move to north London could reshape the attacking options for both clubs.

Liverpool, though, would have to weigh any proposal against the cost of replacing an experienced, versatile forward in a market where prices for attacking players are soaring.

Iraola eyes Alex Scott reunion

While the forward line threatens to shift, Liverpool’s midfield is already being lined up for surgery under Iraola.

The new head coach, set to sign a two-year contract, is pushing for a reunion with Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott. Journalist Jamie Dickenson reported on X that Liverpool are considering a £40 million bid for the 22-year-old, a player Iraola knows well from their time together on the south coast.

Bournemouth, however, value Scott at £60m. That gap will define the early stages of Liverpool’s summer. Scott, currently in Miami with Thomas Tuchel’s England squad and expected to make his Three Lions debut in a friendly against New Zealand, has just delivered a standout campaign that has drawn attention from across the Premier League.

Manchester United and Tottenham are both monitoring him, with the added twist that Scott grew up a Spurs supporter. Liverpool’s advantage lies in Iraola himself: a manager Scott has already thrived under, and who wants to make him his first signing at Anfield.

The club’s interest in RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande, rated at around £100m, underlines the scale of the rebuild being considered. Iraola will also be under pressure to extract more from last summer’s £415m outlay on the likes of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and others, a reminder that Liverpool’s recruitment drive has already been aggressive and expensive.

So the picture is clear enough. A teenage winger once earmarked as a possible trade chip is now being treated as untouchable. A senior international in Gakpo is edging towards the door, with Tottenham ready to pounce. A young English midfielder, priced at a premium, sits at the heart of Iraola’s first big decision.

Liverpool are not just changing manager. They are rewriting the hierarchy of their squad. The only question now is which of these bold stances will hold once the bids start to land.