Giovanni Leoni is expected to miss a number of months – and likely the remainder of the season – with an ACL injury, but has vowed to be back “as soon as possible.”
Leoni suffered a serious knee injury on his debut for Liverpool, having caught his left leg in a routine challenge in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Southampton.
Sources in Italy have claimed the issue is a torn ACL meaning the 18-year-old will spend the rest of the campaign in recovery.
That is a cruel blow after a promising start, with Leoni having excelled on his maiden outing as one of 11 changes to Arne Slot‘s side for the Carabao Cup.
Confirming his lengthy layoff, the teenager took to Instagram to pledge full commitment to his rehabilitation in order to return “as soon as possible.”
“I want to sincerely thank every single person who has shown me support in this difficult moment,” Leoni wrote.
“It wasn’t the debut I had always dreamed of, but I will give everything to be back playing in this magical stadium as soon as possible.
“Thank you so much!”
Leoni’s teammates show their support
The significance of Leoni’s injury showed as a number of his teammates posted replies backing the Italian in his recovery process.
Among those were Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Stefan Bajcetic, Conor Bradley and Jayden Danns, all of whom have experienced the toll of long spells in rehabilitation.
Florian Wirtz was kept out for 10 months with a torn ACL while at Bayer Leverkusen in 2022, with the No. 7 writing: “You’ll come back stronger.”
Alexander Isak, Andy Robertson and Rio Ngumoha also shared messages of support, while the centre-back will be given the full backing of the squad behind the scenes at the AXA Training Centre.
His absence leaves Slot with three fit senior centre-backs in Van Dijk, Konate and Joe Gomez, who has also suffered a number of serious injuries in his career.
Liverpool could now target Guehi in January
If Leoni is set to miss the rest of the season as is expected, Liverpool could turn to the transfer market for a new defender in January.
The obvious candidate would be Crystal Palace‘s Marc Guehi, who remains a target after the breakdown of his proposed £35 million move to Anfield on deadline day.
Guehi will be a free agent at the end of the season and it was believed that Liverpool would wait until the summer in before completing a deal for the 25-year-old.
But that always dependent on the situation within Slot’s squad come mid-season, and Leoni’s serious injury will almost certainly prompt a revival of their talks with Palace – albeit for a lower fee than £35 million.