{"id":89393,"date":"2025-08-22T19:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T19:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/89393\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T19:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T19:09:07","slug":"giovanni-leoni-set-for-liverpool-role-in-line-with-his-26m-transfer-fee-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/89393\/","title":{"rendered":"Giovanni Leoni set for Liverpool role in line with his \u00a326m transfer fee – Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Giovanni Leoni<\/a> is a signing for now as well as the future, with Arne Slot<\/a> impressed with how the \u00a326 million centre-back has already settled in his first-team squad.<\/p>\n

Leoni\u2019s move from Parma to Liverpool was formally announced hours before kickoff in the season opener, with the 18-year-old watching that 4-2 win over Bournemouth<\/a> from the stands.<\/p>\n

He was then given time to adjust to his new surroundings off the pitch before reporting for work at the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The teenager worked alongside Slot\u2019s first-team squad throughout the week as they prepare for the trip to Newcastle<\/a>, and he will be in contention for that 8pm kickoff.<\/p>\n

While Liverpool had always planned to include Leoni in the senior setup from the off \u2013 rejecting any suggestions of a loan back to Parma \u2013 the impact he has made appears to have convinced Slot further.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good looking guy, that\u2019s most Italians. He trained with us three times now I think,\u201d the head coach explained on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at his transfer fee, you can expect that he\u2019s already quite grown up for his age, and that\u2019s exactly what I saw.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he comes in as an 18-year-old just playing with his new teammates as if he\u2019s here for longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cImpressive if you look at how tall, fast, comfortable on the ball he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why we paid the transfer fee we did, because we see him as a bright prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe already had three good sessions, but it also tells you something about the team that if you come to this club, if you come into this team, you feel at ease from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very good, nice group to start your Liverpool career in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,<\/p>\n

Leoni will find himself behind Virgil van Dijk<\/a> and Ibrahima Konate<\/a> in the centre-back pecking order, but with Joe Gomez<\/a> not fully fit he could have an opportunity for game time off the bench on Monday night.<\/p>\n

But despite their confidence in the new No. 15, Liverpool will be eager to avoid exposing Leoni to the rigours of high-intensity Premier League<\/a> football too soon.<\/p>\n

The extent to which he will be used may depend heavily on whether or not a deal can be reached with Crystal Palace<\/a> for their captain Marc Guehi, who would join as immediate competition for a starting spot.<\/p>\n

Either way it is evident that Slot has Leoni firmly in his plans from this season on, and the tall, strong Italian is making the right impression so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Giovanni Leoni is a signing for now as well as the future, with Arne Slot impressed with how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,739,561,82],"class_list":["post-89393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}