{"id":359134,"date":"2026-01-08T15:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T15:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359134\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T15:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T15:16:11","slug":"unbelievably-talented-slot-vows-leoni-is-big-part-of-lfc-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359134\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Unbelievably Talented’ \u2013 Slot Vows Leoni is Big Part of LFC Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Giovanni Leoni<\/a> is set to return for Liverpool next season and Arne Slot<\/a> insists the Italian will feature prominently in his \u201cbigger picture\u201d plans at centre-back.<\/p>\n

Leoni has been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign after tearing his ACL during an otherwise outstanding debut against Southampton<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old underwent surgery and has continued his recovery at the AXA Training Centre, while the club have recently pursued deals for young centre-backs Noah Adekoya, 19, Talla Ndiaye, 18, and Ifeanyi Ndukwe, 17.<\/p>\n

There could be further plans to bolster the centre-back ranks with ongoing interest in Marc Guehi amid doubts over the futures of Ibrahima Konate<\/a> and Joe Gomez<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But in his pre-Arsenal<\/a> press conference on Wednesday, Slot maintained a focus on the \u201cbigger picture\u201d of not shelving plans for Leoni.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to look at the bigger picture, and the bigger picture is that we\u2019ve signed an unbelievably talented player in Giovanni Leoni<\/a> who will be back next season,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the way this club works. As much has been said about our spending last summer, it\u2019s not that there is no limitation on us spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to do smart things, and this club has always tried to do smart things, to keep up with the teams we want to compete with. That\u2019s not any different now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giovanni Leoni<\/a>\u2018s Liverpool Debut vs. Southampton<\/a>: The Data <\/p>\n

Metric
\nTotal
\nRank (LFC)<\/p>\n

Touches
\n102
\n3rd<\/p>\n

Passing Accuracy
\n97% (88\/91)
\n1st<\/p>\n

Aerial Duels Won
\n3\/3 (100%)
\n1st<\/p>\n

Defensive Contributions
\n10
\n2nd<\/p>\n

FotMob Rating
\n7.5
\n3rd<\/p>\n

* Data sourced via FotMob<\/a>. Defensive contributions include combined tackles, interceptions and clearances.<\/p>\n

Leoni was so impressive on his debut in the first team that it would not have been farfetched to suggest he could overtake Konate as Virgil van Dijk<\/a>\u2018s first-choice partner.<\/p>\n

But instead he has been dealt the mental challenge of overcoming a serious injury before returning to a group which could have changed drastically by next season.<\/p>\n

In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport<\/a> this month, the teenager reflected that \u201cthe hardest part is over<\/a>\u201d when it comes to his torn ACL.<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing rehab, swimming and the gym,\u201d Leoni explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a footballer, an injury like this can be the hardest moment of their career, but now I just want to train my mind to come back stronger than before. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the key: the mind can do most of the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cFor two years I\u2019ve been working once a week with a mental coach, Cristian Viola. Every Thursday I go to him or we talk on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Giovanni Leoni is set to return for Liverpool next season and Arne Slot insists the Italian will feature…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1969,218,72499,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-359134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-arne-slot","tag-football","tag-giovanni-leoni","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}