Liverpool centre-back Giovanni Leoni‘s underwent surgery to repair his torn ACL this week, with the centre-back sharing an update following the operation’s success.
Leoni is set to miss the remainder of the season – and likely the start of next season – after tearing his ACL on his Liverpool debut.
It is awful news for an 18-year-old who had just left his native Italy for life in a new country and a new, more intense league.
But Liverpool will provide Leoni with world-class support, which began with surgery to correct his ACL damage earlier this week.
Sharing a photo from his hospital bed, the youngster wrote on Instagram: “Surgery done.
“Thanks everyone for the messages. I’ll be back soon.”
Leoni’s layoff will also see him miss the World Cup, for which he would almost certainly have been part of Italy’s squad, and possibly preparations for the new campaign with Liverpool.
That means both the player and Arne Slot will be forced to delay their plans for integration within the starting lineup.
The early signs Leoni showed against Southampton in the Carabao Cup suggested he could have made a seamless step up to regular starts and put pressure on Ibrahima Konate for the starting spot next to Virgil van Dijk.
His injury could prompt Liverpool to enter the transfer market for a new centre-back in January, with Crystal Palace‘s Marc Guehi a known target.
The head coach will also consider Andy Robertson, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch as emergency options at centre-back, with Van Dijk, Konate and Joe Gomez his specialists in Leoni’s absence.
But asked last week whether the plan was to sign another defender, Slot indicated it may be unlikely.
Slot’s comments on signing a new centre-back
“That all depends on whether we get more injuries and if there’s a chance in the market – all the answers I always give,” he told reporters including the Independent‘s Richard Jolly.
“But I would not prefer to go to 24 or 25 players.
“Also, if it is ever a situation – touch wood – where I lead a team that has four or five injuries throughout the whole season, it might be a bit smarter to go to 24 or 25, but recent history – with Feyenoord and last season as well – showed that [we have a good record] until now.
“But yeah, that is a certain risk, we don’t have five or six injuries at the same time throughout the whole season, if that would be the situation then we would end up with 15 or 16 players and that would normally be difficult.
“So it’s a choice I like to make but I think it is also a financial choice that we as a club have to make. If we want to keep these top players, we cannot have 24 or 25 of them.”
Fan Comments