Updated / Thursday, 15 Oct 2026 14:45
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The Italian has only played once this season
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has revealed the return of centre-back Giovanni Leoni, who has been out since September last year after a serious knee injury on debut, has been delayed.
The 19-year-old was injured 81 minutes into his first game last season but the problem was more complicated than first thought.
"It's true we’ve had a little bit of, not a setback, but a delay if you want," explained the Liverpool boss.
"It is taking more time than we wanted. 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, so we have lost one month in the process.
"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.
"The plan now is he starts in the next break. It’s not that far off, but a little bit later than we expected."
Also on the injured list are attacking forces Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai who are all unlikely to be fit for Brentford on Saturday at the very least.