Giovanni Leoni made the best of a bad sitaution after his ACL injury setback last September, with the Liverpool center-back using the time wisely in a bid to come back in a better place to kick on
Liverpool center-back Giovanni Leoni.
Liverpool center-back Giovanni Leoni.(Image: Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar Via Getty Images)
When Giovanni Leoni arrived at Liverpool from Parma in the summer of 2025, the feeling was that he was perhaps the most promising defender in Italy.
Briefly, the teenager was able to show that last September, albeit in a League Cup tie against Southampton, before he went down on the touchline with a serious injury. It turned out to be an ACL problem, and almost a year on, he hasn't played since.
Leoni is stepping up his recovery this summer, though he is still not fit enough to be involved in team training or have gotten to take part in any of the friendlies, and the center-back has ensured that he made the most of his time on the sidelines.
With more time on his hands and spending more of his days at the AXA Training Centre, Leoni found that he had the perfect conditions to improve his English.
In the long term, he believes that he will benefit from the learning that he has done, where he is now able to hold a fluent conversation.
"I think when you are in a different country, you have to speak that language, for being better on the field and in the training ground," Leoni told club media.
Giovanni Leoni of Liverpool during a training session at Endeavor Health Performance Center
Giovanni Leoni of Liverpool during a training session at Endeavor Health Performance Center (Image: 2026 Liverpool FC)
"Now I could say that it is getting better and everything is easier because I can speak and I can have a conversation with all of the guys."
Alongside Jeremy Jacquet, Leoni is considered the future for Liverpool at center-back. He had interest from various Italian clubs but opted to make the move to the Premier League instead.
"In this period (of injury), I understood a lot of things," he continued.
"I try to be positive every day, even if I had bad days, because in the first months it’s not simple.
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"You have a lot of routines to change. You have a lot of bad days, more than good days at the start. Now of course it’s different but at the start it was tough mentally and physically.
"Then after three or four months everything is more mentally than physically, because you can run, you can start walking again, running again, lift weights, so everything is easier as [concerns] the body.
"Mentally, it’s a tough journey. But for me, if you take everything with a good mentality, you can understand and be back stronger."