Fabrizio Romano CONFIRMS significant Liverpool news

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed the full extent of Giovanni Leoni's injury. Liverpool have suffered a major blow.

Giovanni Leoni made his Liverpool debut on Tuesday night as the Reds hosted Southampton in the Carabao Cup. It was a long-awaited one, with the Italian joining this summer as one of the best young defenders in world football.

And 18-year-old capable of playing centre-back in an elite European league? It’s incredibly rare but Leoni is a rare talent.

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Liverpool snapped him up and we finally got a look at the teenager on Tuesday. He was fantastic - Leoni boasts the kind of composure you hope to see from a 30-year-old defender, while he was equal to everything Southampton threw at him.

Unfortunately, his night ended in disaster as a tackle left him on the floor in significant pain. The defender was down for a long time as medical staff tended to him.

Leoni was then stretchered off the pitch with his leg fixed into place. Never a good sign.

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Giovanni Leoni's injury

Fabrizio Romano confirmed on Wednesday that Leoni has indeed suffered an ACL tear. He'll be out for 'several months' but it's not known yet whether that means the entire season or not.

At the very least, Leoni will not play a strong role at Liverpool this season in any competition. He'll have to be slowly reintroduced to the squad by the time he returns if that's this season.

But we might be talking about 2026/27 at this rate. Leoni is only 18 and with zero incentive to rush him back, Liverpool may prefer to wait for next pre-season before easing him back.

It's an enormous blow and it remains to be seen how easily Leoni can return to football. ACL injuries aren't as devastating as they once were but it will have a significant impact on him.

Fingers crossed, then. Leoni is clearly a world-class talent and one who can become an elite player for Liverpool.

This is hopefully just a setback from which he can return stronger.

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