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Giovanni Leoni facing entire year out after Liverpool star's ACL injury
Sep 26 2025 09:39 · By Etienne Fermie · 27 Reads
LIVERPOOL boss Arne Slot has confirmed that Giovanni Leoni is set for around "a year" on the sidelines.
Leoni , 18, suffered a devastating ACL injury on his debut against Southampton in the Carabao Cup earlier this week.
4 Giovanni Leoni suffered an awful injury earlier this week Credit: Getty
4 Leoni, 18, had to be stretchered off the pitch Credit: PA
The Italian joined Liverpool from Parma in a £26million summer switch.
He was stretchered off late on in the Reds' 2-1 victory over the Saints on Tuesday night.
Offering an update on Leoni's injury while speaking ahead of this weekend's trip to Crystal Palace , boss Slot said: "He is not in a good place because he tore his ACL which means he will be out around a year.
"Being so young and coming to a new country and playing so well in your first game, it's very hard to take the positives.
"There is never a positive side but you try to look at that and that is that he is still so young and he has so many years still go to after he recovers from a terrible injury."
Slot, 47, then pointed to Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez 's respective successful recoveries from ACL injuries as a positive example for Leoni.
The Dutchman added: "We have some examples with Virgil and Joe and a lot of examples all over the world.
"It hurts more if you are closer to retirement but it's far from ideal.
4 Leoni had impressed boss Arne Slot on his debut Credit: Reuters
"The surgeons and the rehab people are important but it's nice if you can do this with players around who have lived through this and they can give the right energy in the right moments.
"Our players have shown plenty of compassion for him and they will not stop."
Leoni had been included in Liverpool's Champions League squad.
Given the lengthy nature of his injury, the defender is now set to be replaced by compatriot Federico Chiesa .
Slot said: "We have looked into this process, some people do this.
"If I am informed correctly, if a player is out for two months or more, we can replace him. So we're looking into it."
4 Federico Chiesa is set to be added to Liverpool's Champions League squad Credit: Getty
