Liverpool captain Virgil van Dik has urged Rio Nugumoja to keep his feet on the ground firmly following his stunning Premier League debut, culminating in a dramatic 100-minute winner against Newcastle United on Bank Holiday on Monday. The Dutch defender also made it clear that he had no ill will to Anthony Gordon. Anthony Gordon escalated a yellow card to red for the Dutch captain’s challenge during the first half of an injury in a thrilling encounter that ended 3-2 in favor of the visitors.
Ngumoha, celebrating his 17th birthday this Friday, was brought along with Harvey Elliott after a fourth official signaled another 11 minutes by a proving fervent fight at St. James Park. After the efforts of Ryan Gravenburch and Hugo Echicicke were neutralised in the second term by Bruno Guimares and Will Osla, the strike secured the Premier League title holder’s victory.
“I’m 16! Incredible,” Van Dik said of Nugumo. “I’m very pleased with him. It should motivate him even more to continue working every day and stay humble. He’s in a good environment for progress.
“He has to take care of himself, he has to learn from all of us, play for years at the highest level, and make it on board and advance, which is a good target for him.
“If you win a Premier League debut at age 16 and win a winner, I think that’s a great sign of quality and special talent, but I also know that you need to play games on a game-by-game basis.
“He needs to keep working hard, make sure he is healthy, progressed, experienced, see what other people are doing and learn from it.
“We have a very good personality in our team and make sure we are all together, and we want them to progress and get better.
“It depends first and foremost on him, but we are both teams and us. Of course, it starts with a mentality. Of course you need to have the right mindset. If you’re the highest level of football player today, it’s not just about playing on the pitch.
“There are a lot of games mentally and physically, but that’s a good start from him. He has the motivation to continue working and hopefully he has a great career.
“We also have Tray (Gni’s) who debuted, but it still improves hard work, consistency and daily improvements. Let’s see where it goes. He should enjoy it tonight.
In Gordon, who announced his apology via his Instagram account, Van Dijk added: “There was no beef! It’s part of the game.
“It may be easy to get the answer after winning the game, but I think we need to go back a bit. I’m not saying that we’re performing poorly because we played against a very intense team from start to finish.
“But there were so many good moments. And at this stage of the season, especially at the beginning, that’s all about the points. Today, we got three points.”
