According to Anfield Index, Expert warns that Liverpool’s Giovanni Leoni Facing Long Spell on the Sidelines after ACL Injury.
Liverpool’s tough week has gone from bad to worse after consecutive losses to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray, with manager Arne Slot now grappling with an increasing injury list.
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker and forward Hugo Ekitike are both doubtful for this weekend’s clash against Chelsea, after sustaining knocks during the 1-0 Champions League defeat to Galatasaray. They join teenage defender Giovanni Leoni, who suffered a serious ACL injury during the Carabao Cup win over Southampton.
The Italian centre-back, who arrived from Parma in a £26m deal this summer, had impressed in his debut outing against the Saints before being forced off. Initial reports indicated he would miss the rest of the campaign, reducing Slot’s defensive options to Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, and Joe Gomez – both of whom have battled fitness issues in recent seasons.
Now, injury analyst Ben Dinnery has provided a worrying update, suggesting the 18-year-old’s road to recovery could be much longer than expected. Speaking to Anfield Index, Dinnery explained:
“Once these injuries were considered as career ending or career threatening, modern technology and recovery processes means that you can mitigate a lot of those risks. However, there are no guarantees that players will always return to pre-injury levels.”
“But there’s context in and around that like whether there are any secondary issues on top of the ACL injury. You also need to consider the fact that Giovanni is only 18 years old, so Liverpool do have a duty of care to look after the player whilst he is at the club but also the player and his long-term career.”
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that this return to play could potentially extend into late 2026 or even early 2027.”
That timeline is a huge blow for such a highly rated prospect, especially with Leoni being on the verge of a senior Italy call-up. His progress may be delayed significantly, forcing Liverpool to reconsider their January transfer plans.
The club previously attempted to sign Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi for £35m last summer, only for the deal to collapse late on. With Leoni’s setback, the Reds could be tempted to revisit that move to strengthen their backline.
As Dinnery further explained:
“You’d expect that Liverpool could dip into the transfer market in January and bring in someone like Marc Guehi and that would ease the pressure on Arne Slot and let Giovanni go through the correct processes but you’re really looking at between 12-18 months for him to stabilise and it could be two years before he gets back to hitting those pre-injury levels.”
Even so, Leoni’s long-term potential remains intact. By the time he fully recovers, he’ll still only be 20 years old with the chance to re-establish himself as a future defensive star at Anfield. His Liverpool journey, though paused, is far from finished.
