Slot confirms Liverpool plan for Chiesa, but Leoni ‘out for a year’ | OneFootball

Liverpool coach Arne Slot confirms Giovanni Leoni will remain out of action for ‘a year’ but confirms the Reds are eager to replace the Italian defender with his compatriot Federico Chiesa on their Champions League list.

Italian defender Leoni suffered a cruciate ligament injury on Tuesday during a 2-1 EFL Cup victory over Southampton.

It was his debut with the Premier League giants, but because of his injury, he’ll have to remain out of action for a year, as Slot said at a press conference on Friday.

Slot confirms how long Leoni will remain out of action

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 23: Giovanni Leoni of Liverpool controls the ball whilst under pressure from Leo Scienza of Southampton during the Carabao Cup Third Round match between Liverpool and Southampton at Anfield on September 23, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

“He is not in a good place, of course, because he tore his ACL, and it means he will be out for a year,” said the Liverpool coach.

“Being so young and coming to a new country and playing so well in your first game… it’s very hard to take the positive side.

“There’s never a positive side – but you always try to look at a positive side and that is that he is still so young, so he has so many years still to go after he recovers from a terrible injury like that,” he continued.

Liverpool coach Arne Slot (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

“I think that last thing definitely helps and we have some examples of that with Virgil [van Dijk] and Joe [Gomez], and there are a lot of examples all around the world,” said the head coach.

“That’s why I said the positive thing is that he is still 18, so he still has a lot of time to go. If you get an injury like that when you are close to your retirement, it makes it much more difficult, maybe. But in both situations, it’s far from ideal.

“I think the main and most important thing is the surgeons that are going to do the surgery, then second of all, the ones that do the recovery, the rehab, with him.

“But then it’s always nice if you can do this in a surrounding with players who have lived through this as well, they can give you the right energy maybe in certain moments.

“And I think our players already showed in the last two days a lot of compassion towards him, and they will not stop doing that in the upcoming year.”

Slot confirms Chiesa could return to Liverpool’s UCL squad

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – AUGUST 25: Federico Chiesa of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Liverpool at St James’ Park on August 25, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Previous reports suggested that Liverpool could replace Leoni with Chiesa on their Champions League list, and Slot confirmed this was the club’s plan.

“Yeah, we’ve looked into this- I cannot tell you exactly where that process is at the moment. That is not something I do myself; there are other people doing this,” said the Liverpool boss.

“But if I’m informed correctly, if a player has a longer than two-month injury, you are able to replace him. That’s what they’ve told me, and now we have to see if it’s true or not, but other people are looking into that.”

Chiesa was initially dropped from Liverpool’s Champions League squad, but has had a positive start to the season at Anfield with one goal and two assists in five appearances across all competitions.

The winger’s contract with Liverpool runs out in June 2028.