Liverpool suffered a significant injury blow earlier this season and now Giovanni Leoni has spoken out about his recovery after an early setback in his career with the Reds
Giovanni Leoni suffered a serious injury(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni has claimed the hardest part of his injury hell is now over. The Italian is still expected to be out for months after suffering a devastating ACL tear in September.
Leoni, 19, was making his full debut for the Reds after joining from Parma in a £26m deal when he suffered an early setback. The youngster impressed for 81 minutes against Southampton in the Carabao Cup before he landed awkwardly.
The summer signing was visibly distressed as he was replaced by Milos Kerkez and taken straight down the tunnel following his initial treatment on the pitch. Leoni required surgery in October to begin his rehabilitation.
Now, Leoni is undertaking a variety of physical activities to progress his recovery. His initial prognosis suggested it could be September before he makes his return.
The teenager is firmly focused on his return and coming back stronger for the Reds. “Now the hardest part is over,” he said, speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport’s Sport Week.
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“I’m doing rehab, swimming, and the gym. For a footballer, an injury like this can be the most difficult moment in their career, but now I just want to train my mind to come back stronger than before. I think that’s the key aspect: the mind can do most of the work.”
Leoni also discussed the trauma of suffering the injury. The ex-Parma star revealed he instantly knew the severity of the blow.
“I immediately realised it was that kind of injury,” he said. “It was a great, intense pain, the strongest I’ve ever felt.
Giovanni Leoni suffered the injury on his Liverpool debut.(Image: Jan Kruger, Getty Images)
“But I believe that life has certain things in store for me, and fate brought me to this. I tell myself: It must have happened to make me stronger.”
Liverpool boss Arne Slot dismissed speculation that the Reds would bring in a new centre-back in January despite losing Joe Gomez to a hamstring problem. The Dutchman highlighted Leoni’s injury earlier in the season as significant, however.
“First of all for himself but the injury of Giovanni Leoni is, of course, it has quite a lot of impact,” Slot said in December. “If you have four centre backs for the season, two right and two left backs with Wata (Wataru Endo) and Ryan (Gravenberch) who can help you out, but then you have an ACL injury, that is not very helpful. It is tough.
“And unfortunately, Joe is now out of the squad. In a season, these moments for most teams happen. Some teams have so many (options) but most other teams do not.”
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