Liverpool’s Giovanni Leoni facing year out with torn anterior cruciate ligament

Giovanni Leoni is facing a year on the sidelines after Liverpool boss Arne Slot announced the teenage defender has torn his anterior cruciate ligament.

The 18-year-old, a £26million summer signing from Parma, made his Reds debut in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup third round tie against Southampton but suffered the knee injury in a tackle late on in the 2-1 win.

Leoni has pledged to return as soon as possible but Slot issued a grim prognosis ahead of Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace, where Alexander Isak is poised for his first Premier League start for the Merseysiders.

Arne Slot has issued an update on the recent injury sustained by Giovanni Leoni following further assessment ⤵️

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 26, 2025

Leoni’s setback – which leaves Liverpool with just three fit centre-backs in Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate – means he has been replaced in their Champions League squad by Federico Chiesa.

Slot said: “He is not in a good place because he tore his ACL so he will be out for around a year.

“Being so young, coming to a new country, playing so well in your first game, it is very hard to take a positive.

“There is no positive side but he is still so young, has so many years to go after he recovers from a terrible injury like that.”

Leoni’s season-ending injury shines a light once more on Liverpool’s failure to sign Marc Guehi on transfer deadline day earlier this month, with Palace pulling the plug on a £35million deal at the 11th hour.

However, Slot, whose side have made a fantastic start to their title defence with five successive wins and already hold a five-point lead atop the league table, refused to be drawn on the issue.

Slot said: “I don’t think one day before we play them (is the time to be)