Giovanni Leoni’s return from injury delayed in fresh blow to Liverpool

Giovanni Leoni’s Liverpool return has been delayed because of the severity of the knee injury sustained on his debut, Andoni Iraola has revealed.

The central defender had been expected to resume team training during the recent international break but that schedule has been put back by about a month.

Leoni, a £26m signing from Parma in 2025, sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Southampton 13 months ago. Iraola has disclosed the damage extended beyond the ACL and Liverpool must tread carefully with the 19-year-old’s rehabilitation as a consequence.

“It is taking more time than we wanted,” the head coach said. “With Gio, the plan was to train with the team in this past international break. It is probably now going to be the next international break [which starts on 9 November], so we have lost one month in the process.

“With Giovanni’s injury, I wasn’t here but talking to the medical department it wasn’t just an ACL. It was a bad injury, a lot of things around the knee were involved apart from the ACL. I think he has to be very confident in the rehab and the process has to be very careful with him.

“We want to make sure once he comes to the team he stays there in a good place. It’s true we’ve had a little bit of not a setback but a delay if you want. The plan now is he starts in the next break. It’s not that far off, but a little bit later than we expected.”

Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo remain doubts for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Brentford having missed Liverpool’s last two fixtures with injuries picked up on international duty.