Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni is likely to be sidelined for “around a year” after tearing the ACL in his left leg, manager Arne Slot said Friday.
The 18-year-old Italian defender, who joined in the offseason from Parma, made his first appearance for Liverpool in the English League Cup win over Southampton on Tuesday but his debut ended in the 81st minute after he landed awkwardly in a tackle.
“He's not in a good place, of course, because he tore his ACL, which means he will be out for around a year,” Slot said.
“Being so young, coming to a new country, playing so well in your first game. It's very hard to take the positive side — there's never a positive side but you always try to — and it is that he's still so young so he has so many years still to go after he recovers from a terrible injury like that.”
Slot's timeframe leaves Liverpool with just three established center backs until the January transfer window — Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté and Joe Gomez.
Slot said Liverpool is looking into winger Federico Chiesa taking Leoni's place in the team's Champions League squad for this season.
