Good news keeps coming for Liverpool’s injured Leoni | OneFootball

It’s been a cruel start to life on Merseyside for Giovanni Leoni, but Liverpool’s Italian teenager has now received another piece of encouraging news just days after being nominated for the prestigious Golden Boy award.

The 18-year-old centre-back was forced off on his Reds debut in the Carabao Cup win over Southampton in September, later confirmed by our boss Arne Slot to have suffered a serious ACL injury.

But after successful surgery and a show of faith from Europe’s top journalists, there’s a growing sense that fortune is starting to turn for our No.15.

Leoni earns Golden Boy nomination amid recovery

Image via @LFC on X

As confirmed by Fabrizio Romano on X, the Liverpool defender has been included in the final 25-man shortlist for the Golden Boy 2025 award – recognition that marks him among the best young players in Europe.

It follows a breakthrough campaign at Parma, where he made 17 Serie A appearances before completing his £26 million move to us this summer.

Despite his absence since September, Leoni’s name sits alongside elite prospects such as Arda Guler and Franco Mastantuono – a testament to his performances before injury.

Liverpool surgeon confident Giovanni Leoni will return stronger

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Following the operation, renowned orthopaedic surgeon Vincenzo Costa – formerly of AS Roma – shared a hugely positive assessment of Leoni’s recovery in comments to Calciomercato.it, via DaveOCKOP.com.

“Leoni will absolutely return to his best, there are surgical techniques of the highest level,” Costa explained.

“From a biomechanical point of view, after the surgery, there is nothing that leads the knee not to have a 100 percent performance. So Leoni can certainly come back stronger than before.”

That sentiment mirrors what our head coach said in September, when he described the teenager as “so young, playing so well in his first game” and backed him to recover with “many years still to go after a terrible injury like that.”

Liverpool have already shown faith in the long-term potential of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, and the same patient approach will apply to the young Italian, who remains one of the most highly rated defenders of his generation.

With Costa confident and his Golden Boy nomination fresh, optimism has returned that Leoni will eventually take his place at the heart of our defence and do so even stronger than before.

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