Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni has reached out to fans following his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery. The 18-year-old suffered the injury during his debut match against Southampton in the Carabao Cup last month. After joining the Reds in a £26million transfer from Parma in August, Leoni had been eagerly awaiting his opportunity, which was granted by Arne Slot for the Carabao Cup third round tie at home against the Championship side.
Despite impressing on the pitch, the Italian’s debut was abruptly cut short when he fell awkwardly after a challenge in the 81st minute. Following medical attention, Leoni was carried off the field and Slot conceded post-match that the prognosis for the young centre-back didn’t look promising. It was subsequently confirmed that Leoni had indeed torn his ACL, with Slot revealing in his pre-Crystal Palace press conference last Friday that the player could be sidelined for approximately 12 months.
“He is not in a good place, of course, because he tore his ACL and it means he will be out for a year,” Slot said. “Being so young and coming to a new country and 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 look at a positive side and that is that he is still so young, so he has so many years still to go after he recovers from a terrible injury like that.”
Leoni has confirmed that he has undergone surgery for his ACL injury and expressed his gratitude for the messages of support, as he embarks on a lengthy recovery journey.
In an Instagram story, alongside a picture of him in a hospital bed, Leoni stated: “Surgery done. Thanks everyone for the messages. I’ll be back soon,” accompanied by a red heart emoji and a pair of praying hands emoji.
Liverpool team-mates Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, who have both experienced similar injuries and made successful comebacks, will be there to support Leoni.
Before the loss to Palace last week, Slot said: “I think that last thing definitely helps and we have some examples of that with Virgil [van Dijk] and Joe [Gomez], and there are a lot of examples all around the world,”.
“That’s why I said the positive thing is that he is still 18, so he still has a lot of time to go. If you get an injury like that when you are close to your retirement it makes it much more difficult maybe. But in both situations it’s far from ideal.
“I think the main and most important thing is the surgeons that are going to do the surgery, then second of all the ones that do the recovery, the rehab, with him.
“But then it’s always nice if you can do this in a surrounding with players who have lived through this as well, they can give you the right energy maybe in certain moments.
“And I think our players already showed in the last two days a lot of compassion towards him and they will not stop doing that in the upcoming year.”
