Image Credits: Imago Images
Giovanni Leoni suffered a torn ACL that ended his promising Liverpool debut in a Carabao Cup win over Southampton at Anfield in September.
He is progressing in his recovery but is not expected to return to team training this season. The Italy centre-back saw his campaign cut short on debut, facing a long rehabilitation just months after moving country.
He has been working outdoors at the AXA Training Centre since March, avoiding contact as he rebuilds knee strength. Reports earlier this month suggested he could resume team training by late April, around seven months after surgery.
However, according to The Telegraph, while he has returned to grass work, he will not rejoin full training before the season ends.
The report claims that: “Leoni, a £27m recruit from Parma, looked polished in that League Cup tie with Southampton but there is no date on when he will resume his Liverpool career.
The 19-year-old is doing rehabilitation work outside on the grass but he will not train with the team again this season.”
Leoni enjoyed a breakthrough 2024-25 season in Serie A and earned his first senior Italy national team call-up weeks after joining Liverpool. A typical ACL recovery for elite players is nine to 12 months to reduce re-injury risk.
For comparison, Virgil van Dijk returned in a pre-season friendly 10 months after his ACL injury and went on to have a consistent campaign with only a minor setback.
Leoni has remained integrated with the first team during rehabilitation to aid his transition after leaving Italy. He will aim for a strong pre-season alongside Jeremy Jacquet, who is also sidelined with a season-ending shoulder injury.
Both are viewed as part of the club’s long-term defensive core, with further encouragement coming after the Merseyside derby as Ibrahima Konate confirmed he is “close” to signing a new contract.
Leoni described his anterior cruciate ligament injury as the “strongest pain” he has ever felt, but has vowed to return stronger for Liverpool. He told Gazzetta dello Sport: “As soon as I hit the ground I said to Conor Bradley, my teammate: ‘I’ve done my cruciate.’
“It had never happened to me [before] but it was a strange feeling, I thought: ‘That’s it, period.’ A great, strong pain, the strongest pain I have felt in life… I believe that life reserves certain things and destiny has led me to this. To myself, I say: ‘It must have happened to make me stronger.’
“I can’t look at the long term, I only think about training my mind. I am determined to look at the day itself, to do what makes me feel good and take care of the recovery.
“Setting long-term goals means having new problems, in case of slow-downs [in recovery]. “Now the hardest part is over. I’m doing rehab, I’m in the swimming pool, the gym.
“For a footballer, an injury like this can be the most difficult moment of his career but now I just want to train my head to come back stronger than before. “I think that’s the key thing: the head can do most of the work.”
