Richard Hughes delivers €35m masterstroke | OneFootball

Richard Hughes just keeps doing it for Liverpool with another genius masterstroke.

The club's sporting director is definitely a fan favourite around Anfield right now. Hughes has build a tremendous team over the course of the summer window.

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Sure, it wasn't a perfect summer. All barring one transfer with the Reds missing out on Marc Guehi. But on the whole, Hughes can be satisfied with the work he was able to deliver.

Arne Slot will be more than satisfied as well, even if it has given him a bit of a headache when it comes to play selections.

But it does mean Liverpool now have a team stacked with talent. A team ready to compete on all fronts and we saw that against Southampton on Tuesday night.

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Slot had the luxury of resting a plethora of his senior players. Some of the best players so far this season were not even on the bench, including Dominik Szoboszlai, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo.

Yet, even with a much-changed squad, Liverpool were able to get the win over the line and secure their place in the next round of the tournament.

A lot of that was thanks to the stupendous performance from Giovanni Leoni, who is proving to be another Hughes masterstroke.

Why Giovanni Leoni is the future of Liverpool

The Reds have had to wait a long time to see the Italian in action. Leoni's debut took over a month to come to fruition after signing his contract with the Reds.

But the wait was more than worth it. Leoni produced an incredible performance at centre-back, outshining the far more experienced Joe Gomez playing alongside him.

In total, Leoni completed the most passes (88) while he was on the pitch and was the most accurate passer (97%). He won three out of his three attempted aerial duels and made six clearances in total.

It was the perfect performance from the young man. The kind of performance you don't often see from an 18-year-old. Unfortunately, his night ended with disappointment with Leoni picking up what appears to be a serious injury.

Liverpool will hope he will be back soon.

No matter what happens, Leoni has an extremely bright career ahead of him.

And while he may not have been the most exciting signing of the summer, he could prove to be the best one in years to come. Hughes' genius to land him for just €35m as per Fabrizio Romano was simply a masterstroke.