Liverpool will have to be without Giovanni Leoni for ‘several months’ after he tore his ACL, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The Reds brought in the centre-back from Serie A side Parma in the summer transfer window for a fee of £26m with the 18-year-old winning caps at Italy Under-19 level.
Liverpool defender Leoni went down with score at 1-1 in their 2-1 win over Southampton on Tuesday night after falling awkwardly challenging for a ball in his own half.
The Italian youngster was carried down the tunnel by medical staff on a stretcher with Slot getting a bad feeling about the injury.
Giving an update on Leoni, Slot told ITV: “If a player goes off like that, it is normally not a good sign.
“As you can probably understand we have to wait and see what it is. But normally it is not positive when a player goes off like this.”
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Slot later continued in his post-match press conference: “He is down because, for him, it didn’t feel good immediately. This is something we have to assess.
“Normally these things don’t happen in five or 10 minutes. You have to wait until tomorrow to see how he comes in and maybe do an MRI scan to know more and see how serious it is.
“Normally, the emotions of a player tell you a lot. I saw during the weekend in the Eredivisie that a player went out completely in tears. It proved to be he was right. Let’s hope for the best.”
And the Physio Scout | Football Injury Analysis on X revealed on Tuesday night that he suspected that Leoni had suffered an ACL injury but the limited footage of the incident made it harder for them to judge.
The account wrote: ‘Giovanni Leoni had to come off with a knee injury in the second half of the Liverpool vs. Southampton clash. Extremely limited video makes this harder to judge, but I’d be worried that his knee falls into a valgus position in this screenshot.
‘Non-contact nature, knee collapsing in and pivoting nature make me suspicious of an ACL injury. However, this is harder to call due to the live broadcast not showing a clearer replay of it.
‘Potential Recovery Time: If ACL: 9+ months If meniscus: ~3-4 months (varies) If bone/bruise: <1 week
‘Physios seemed to have readied Leoni in a position to do a Lachmann’s test – to test for an ACL rupture. Scans will be needed to determine the extent of the injury. Arne Slot added: “If a player goes off like that, it is normally not a good sign.”
‘If you have any further videos, or alternate replay angles, please send them over via DM and I’ll be happy to confirm/update my analysis.’
And now Romano has confirmed the bad news on Wednesday with Liverpool set to miss the centre-back for a long period of time.
Romano wrote on X: ‘Liverpool centre back Giovanni Leoni has torn his ACL and will be out for several months. After excellent debut in League Cup last night with also Arne Slot very happy, an unlucky injury for Leoni who will try to be back before the end of the season.’
That leaves Liverpool with just Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez as their three senior centre-backs for the forseeable future, while Rhys Williams is also back at the club.
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