Liverpool beat Wrexham in New York as teenage prospect Joshua Abe draws elite club interest

Liverpool secured a 1-0 pre-season victory over Wrexham at Yankee Stadium in New York, thanks to a 75th-minute deflected strike from Rio Ngumoha off defender Lewis Brunt. The match marked head coach Andoni Iraola’s second consecutive pre-season win, despite a disrupted build-up involving a cancelled flight from Chicago.

The fixture served as a showcase for Liverpool’s youth strategy, headlined by 16-year-old right winger Joshua Abe. The Warrington-born England youth international made his first senior start after rejecting reported £40,000-a-week offers from Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea earlier this summer.

Abe demonstrated his potential early on, breaking clear of the Wrexham defence after a pass from Harvey Elliott before being denied by former Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward. His recent scholarship agreement, with a three-year professional contract scheduled for his 17th birthday, represents a significant retention victory for the club’s academy.

Iraola fielded an experimental lineup featuring six players without Premier League experience, starting Calum Scanlon, Lewis Koumas, and Abe in attack. Key senior figures including Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, and Ryan Gravenberch remained at the training base following post-World Cup holidays, while Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa were absent through injury and illness.

Wrexham, managed by Phil Parkinson, displayed a physical edge as they are further advanced in their pre-season preparations ahead of next week’s Carabao Cup tie against Middlesbrough. The match drew a crowd of 42,204, attended by Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, underscoring the commercial appeal of such transatlantic fixtures.

Liverpool introduced Rio Ngumoha, Kieran Morrison, Kostas Tsimikas, and Curtis Jones at half-time to replace Abe, Scanlon, Milos Kerkez, and Trey Nyoni. Although Wrexham’s Nathan Broadhead, Lewis Brunt, and Kieffer Moore generated late chances, Giorgi Mamardashvili preserved the clean sheet for Iraola’s experimental squad.