06 Jun 2026 10:35:01
All this Rio talk has got me thinking of Cristiano Ronaldo's debut season for Man Utd at 18 years old, 4 goals and 4 assists in 29 appearances for a team that finished 3rd under one of the all-time great managers. Often labelled a show pony who did a million step overs.
Rio at 17 has 2 goals and 1 assist in 19 matches this season past. Now I'm not saying he will get anywhere near Ronaldo levels but for a kid, he is doing more than alright and should flourish under Ireola.
06 Jun 2026 10:57:20
No.8, or we can just wait and see what happens and how Rio progresses, cos these comparisons do not help at all. Rio isn't good enuff right now, plain and simple, and for good reason. He's young. Let's just relax and watch the progression under "Doni".
06 Jun 2026 11:01:05
People have no perspective.
We all want Diomande and think he's a superstar in the making.
Diomande was playing college football in the US at 16 while Rio was getting game time in the FA Cup.
Diomande was in 3rd division in Spain at 17 while Rio got 1000 minutes in the EPL for one of the biggest clubs in the world against top defenders/grown men. He would've likely gotten more minutes under a better manager.
Sure, Rio is far from the finished product, but imagine where he could be in 2 years time when he's the same age as Diomande and Ryan, who people rave about.
Wanting to sell him is crazy talk, especially when 20% of profits would go to Chelsea. Would be totally stupid to sell him now for 40m or whatever a 17yo kid would cost.
06 Jun 2026 11:14:12
That's exactly what im saying, Oli, it's more of a perspective than direct comparison. As I said, im not saying he's Ronaldo MK2, but strongly believe he shouldn't be sold.
06 Jun 2026 11:24:53
People criticising Rio is like the reverse of match of the day fever.
He's a kid. Give him a chance before we shoot him down from behind our keyboards after watching some highlights of him.
06 Jun 2026 11:48:09
To say that 'Klopp's team' won the league is disingenuous towards Slot, that team the previous season struggled into 3rd and got battered in Europe, lest we forget, not only did we canter towards the League title, but we finished unbeaten in the new CL format too, that can't be underplayed either.
Yes, it all fell apart, arguably, last summer, for many reasons, but you can't say he's anything like Rodgers. We nearly won the league in spite of him, I've always felt.
06 Jun 2026 13:11:09
Rio is a 17 year old kid with bags of potential.
For me, his flaws are exactly what I would expect from a kid his age.
I think with the right coaching he could easily become a class player. I also think he is about to meet the right manager at the right time for his development. We would be mad to sell, in my opinion.
06 Jun 2026 13:43:17
With young kids, you never know. Their body is not fully developed and the physiological strain of being in the spotlight and suddenly being rich is not easy. And many burn out after a few years (Sterling?) But he has potential. That's all that can be said. We need to keep players like him even if a lot of them won't make it.
06 Jun 2026 16:30:14
No.8, we are on the same page. All good.