Rio Ngumoha looks to be settling in well into his new role with Liverpool, which will not only add a string to his bow, but provide a major boost to one of his teammates

It’s hard not to get excited about Rio Ngumoha, no matter how much you should probably rein in any lofty expectations for a player who is still only 18.

Andoni Iraola’s advice not to hype him up too much makes perfect sense in that regard, but after watching his performance against Villarreal, it feels as though it will fall on deaf ears - although that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

We’ve seen already that Ngumoha is not someone who will wilt under pressure after the way in which he broke through last season, and on Tuesday, it felt like the more the Anfield crowd cheered him on, the better he got. Even Villarreal springing three defenders upon him couldn't keep him out of the game.

All of this while he’s adapting to a new role. The teenager seems to be finding his feet on the right-hand side, which not only adds a very useful string to his bow, but it could be of a huge benefit to one of his teammates.

We still haven’t quite had lift-off from Bradley Barcola following his $165 million move from Paris Saint-Germain - at least not in the Premier League anyway.

There are signs though that he is growing into life with the Reds now. He should have scored against Brentford last weekend, but he did at least grab an assist, which will get some monkeys off his back.

And with Ngumoha starting to settle in nicely on the right, that leaves the French international to stick to his preferred left-hand side, which will surely help him.

"Bradley Barcola? We have to go easy on him. Bradley is young and his rise has been very fast,” former Liverpool and France striker Djibril Cisse told Mr Gamble this week.

"I followed him from Lyon to Paris in three or four years, as well as the national team. He’s been through a lot and I think he’s handling it well, considering how much has happened to him in such a short time.

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"And again, when you arrive in the Premier League, it takes time. It’s not like France, it’s not the same game, you don’t have the same role. In France he was the darling. Here he arrives with a big price tag, he cost a lot, so there are expectations, and mentally that’s not easy to manage.

"It’s not the best Barcola I know so far, but I can tell you that when it clicks, it’s going to hurt teams. You don’t score a hat-trick in the Champions League by chance. I hope that will launch him and he’ll show the real Bradley Barcola, because I’ve seen the Barcola of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and I’m very happy to have him at Liverpool."

It feels as though that launch may not be too far away now, especially with Ngumoha not only helping him out, but actually showing Barcola what he should be doing.

If that launch, as Cisse puts it, arrives this weekend, then he could go a long way to justifying that hefty price tag. With Brighton and Arsenal next up in the league, Liverpool needs its big names to perform.

Having Barcola firing feels like it could be the next step in the Reds’ evolution under Iraola. If that happens, there’ll be nothing the Liverpool boss can do to temper the fans' excitement.