Despite some reports to the contrary, Rio Ngumoha is understood to have been ‘fully appreciative’ of the game-time that he was afforded by Arne Slot at Liverpool during the 2025/26 season.The 17-year-old was a breakout star for the Reds in a largely miserable campaign for the club, amassing 29 appearances and nearly 1,000 minutes for the first team (Transfermarkt), with his form even earning him an England debut earlier this month.DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYBayern Munich had reportedly contacted the winger behind LFC’s backs recently (The Athletic), with ex-Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown saying that the Merseyside hierarchy will have been ‘fuming’ over that covert approach.Ngumoha ‘appreciative’ for his game-time under SlotIn his latest column on Substack, Liverpool journalist David Lynch affirmed that Anfield chiefs were indeed furious at Bayern’s antics, whilst also pouring cold water on reports from other sources that Ngumoha was dissatisfied with the minutes that Slot gave him last season.He wrote: ‘Senior Anfield figures were known to be incensed by a story they felt amounted to little more than tapping up from a European rival.‘From the player’s perspective, while Bayern did make contact with his representatives in an attempt to lay the foundations for a move, claims that terms had been agreed between the two parties are understood to be entirely false.‘The same goes for suggestions that the door to a departure might have been left ajar because of Ngumoha’s unhappiness with the minutes he picked up at Liverpool last season. In reality, the teenager was fully appreciative of the careful handling he received from Arne Slot last term.‘Evidence of the strong bond the two shared could be seen in the Dutchman reaching out to Ngumoha after his recent impressive senior England debut against New Zealand.’Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustSlot gave Ngumoha his big break into senior footballWhile Slot was the subject of two thinly-veiled public condemnations from Mo Salah over the past six months, it appears that Ngumoha had no such issues with his former boss, but was actually very grateful to the coach for giving him his breakthrough at Liverpool.The clamour for the 17-year-old to start more often grew as the season progressed, and he was in the starting XI for the Reds’ final three matches of the campaign, bringing his total for the Premier League up to five (Transfermarkt).One of the biggest criticisms of Slot was his reluctance to trust in youth, having farmed out Harvey Elliott for an ill-fated loan move to Aston Villa, but ultimately the ex-Chelsea teenager was so impressive that the Dutchman simply had to hand him a succession of starts.If – as seems most likely – Ngumoha goes on to have a glittering career at the highest level, we don’t doubt that he’ll be forever grateful to the 47-year-old for presenting him with the launch pad to break into first-team football and never look back.As for Bayern, we hope they’ve learned a lesson about their apparent tapping up of the teenager and don’t resort to such underhanded tactics again. Had they asked Liverpool directly, of course the answer would’ve been no, but at least the transparency would’ve been appreciated.The post David Lynch debunks Rio Ngumoha theory as Liverpool left ‘incensed’ by ‘tapping up’ from Bayern appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.