Giovanni Leoni is facing the most difficult year of any footballer’s career as he works his way back from an ACL tear, but Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez know his struggle.
Leoni has been ruled out for a year after tearing his ACL on his debut for Liverpool, meaning his season is over along with the World Cup and next summer’s pre-season.
It is a massive setback for an 18-year-old who had left his home country to join a new club with a step up in expectations, but there will be world-class support in his rehabilitation.
That includes the personal experience of Van Dijk and Gomez, who have both suffered ACL injuries in their career and were both sidelined with serious knee issues in the 2020/21 campaign.
“I think that definitely helps,” Arne Slot said of the value of Van Dijk and Gomez’s support to Leoni.
“We have some examples of that with Virgil and Joe, and there are a lot of examples from around the world.
“That’s why I said the positive thing is that he’s 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 most important thing is the surgeons who 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 surrounded by players that have lived through this as well, they can give you the right energy maybe in certain moments.
“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.”
Van Dijk is even better after his ACL
Of course, not only have Van Dijk and Gomez suffered similar injuries in the past but they are part of Slot’s centre-back ranks along with Leoni.
Van Dijk in particular serves as a shining example of a player reclaiming peak form – or even exceeding his previous standards – after recovering from an ACL tear.
Leoni can look to the Liverpool captain as a role model in his rehabilitation, with Florian Wirtz another who missed almost a year with a torn ACL while he was at Bayer Leverkusen.
It may not soften the blow of this cruellest of setbacks for a player who only turns 19 in December, but he can at least be safe in the knowledge that he has the network needed to work his way back as soon as possible.