Liverpool wonderkid to follow in £35m star's footsteps | OneFootball

Liverpool are always monitoring their young talents to make sure the right calls are made on their futures and given the transfer market is set to close in just over a week, it's officially crunch time.

It's understood that Lewis Koumas, Kaide Gordon and James McConnell are just three of the many names that are making headlines right now, ahead of agreeing potential loan moves this season.

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Others might follow the pathway of Jarell Quansah who left for Leverkusen in a £35m deal back in July, departing Liverpool for good, although those moves will require a significantly tempting offer.

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But in Giovanni Leoni, the Reds have a new wonderkid, who arrived from Parma last week on a £30m transfer, and he might follow in the Englishman's footsteps in a very different way against Newcastle.

Leoni set for Premier League debut

The Italian has spent the past week getting acquainted with his new surroundings on Merseyside after creating history when he attended the Bournemouth match at Anfield, becoming the first new signing to be announced at the stadium for seven years since Virgil Van Dijk joined in 2018.

Furthermore, he's the club's first centre-back signing since 2021 when Ibrahima Konate was signed, and the transfer fee on his head despite being 18 years old is remarkable. He's highly admired.

In his press conference on Thursday, Arne Slot gave us an update on how Leoni is getting on.

He said: "He is a good-looking guy, as [with] most Italians! He has trained with us three times now, I think. If you look at his transfer fee, you can expect that he is already quite grown up for his age - and that's exactly what Isak. He comes in as an 18-year-old just playing with his new teammates as if he is here for longer. Impressive; if you look at how tall he is, fast, comfortable on the ball."

In time, you can expect him to be a huge influential asset in the side, but when might he actually make his debut? Well, it might happen to be sooner than you think, given the makeup of the squad.

Jeremie Frimpong's injury and Conor Bradley's fitness means we might see Joe Gomez be played as the team's right-back for the trip to Newcastle on Monday night. Although the overall fitness of the veteran defender is to be doubted itself, he was name-dropped by Slot as a potential option to use.l

He added: "Joe Gomez hasn't had a setback but he wasn't able to train three days in a row. We will see where he is on Monday and if he can start."

Ordinarily, you'd expect Gomez to be the first defensive change for one of Van Dijk or Konate, but if he's given the nod at right-back, then Leoni could make his debut and follow in Quansah's footsteps.

The 22-year-old first appeared for the Reds in 2023 and Newcastle (A) was the match of choice, where getting a 13-minute cameo off the bench helps solidify the defence, following Van Dijk's red card, before Darwin Nunez fired in two killer finishes to snatch the win away from the Magpies.

Of course, the decision to give Leoni any minutes in what will be a heated contest will be entirely down to Slot. There will be far less pressurised introductions to the Premier League available further down the line, but if he's needed, the Italian will no doubt back himself to make a positive impact.