Slot was asked if will be useful for Leoni to have the support of teammates at Liverpool who have recovered from similar injuries and shown it is possible to return to the same level as before.
“I think that last thing definitely helps and we have some examples of that with Virgil [van Dijk] and Joe [Gomez], and there are a lot of examples all around the world,” said the head coach.
“That’s why I said the positive thing is that he is still 18, so he still has a lot of time to go. If you get an injury like that when you are close to your retirement it makes it much more difficult maybe. But in both situations it’s far from ideal.
“I think the main and most important thing is the surgeons that are going to do the surgery, then second of all the ones that do the recovery, the rehab, with him.
“But then it’s always nice if you can do this in a surrounding with players who have lived through this as well, they can give you the right energy maybe in certain moments.
“And I think our players already showed in the last two days a lot of compassion towards him and they will not stop doing that in the upcoming year.”