Liverpool to ‘break wage structure’ with transfer for 15-year-old Chelsea winger

Liverpool are reportedly set to break their youth wage structure to sign a 15-year-old winger from Chelsea who has been likened to Jamal Musiala.

The Reds’ academy enforces a thorough set of rules for its academy players, starting with a maximum wage of £50,000 per year for a youth player.

There are also rules limiting the engine size (1.3 litres) of a vehicle in a so-called ‘car clause’.

“We have a pay structure which is fairly old-fashioned,” academy head Alex Inglethorpe previously explained. “We give them jobs to do. We tell them to hand their phone over at 8.30am and give them back before they go home.”

However, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano, the Reds are now prepared to break that structure in order to acquire England under-16 winger Rio Ngumoha.

Ngumoha is currently at Chelsea‘s academy and made his debut for their U21s last season as a 15-year-old, but is said to be close to a move north to Merseyside ahead of his 16th birthday later this month.

He would become the second high-profile teenager to sign for the Liverpool academy this summer, with Wolves‘ young midfielder Alvin Ayman also set to arrive at Kirkby.

Such moves underline a shift in focus in youth recruitment for Liverpool in a post-Brexit landscape, seeking to bring in talented youngsters from around the country as European talents can no longer be signed before their 18th birthday.

Last year the Reds brought in Trey Nyoni (Leicester) and Amara Nallo (West Ham), while the likes of Bobby Clark (Newcastle), James McConnell (Sunderland), Kaide Gordon (Derby County) and Ben Doak (Celtic) have all been acquired in their mid-teens.

Chelsea academy attacker and fellow England U16 youth international Ryan McAidoo has also been linked with a move to Merseyside this summer.