3 days ago
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Liverpool's new signing Giovanni Leoni faces a significant spell out after it was discovered he has torn his anterior cruciate ligament on his debut against Southampton on Tuesday night.
Leoni, 18, signed for £26m from Parma this summer but left the field on a stretcher at Anfield after 81 minutes in the Carabao Cup.
He had enjoyed an impressive debut at Anfield, with Reds boss Arne Slot describing his performance as 'great' in a post-match interview.
Speaking about Leoni's injury, the Dutchman added: 'He's down because for him it didn't feel good immediately.
'But this is something now we have to assess and normally these things don't happen in five to 10 minutes, you have to wait until tomorrow to see how he comes in and then maybe do an MRI scan to know more.
'Normally the emotions of a player tell you a lot, I saw a player in the Dutch Eredivisie at the weekend who went out completely in tears and it proved to be that he was right (that he had suffered a bad injury), but let's hope for the best.'
Giovanni Leoni leaves the pitch on a stretcher during Liverpool's win over Southampton
Leoni was making his debut on Tuesday but was unfortunate to suffer a tear to his ACL
Liverpool are offering no comment on Leoni's injury but it is understood to be an ACL tear.
The club are believed to have been waiting for the Italian defender's swelling to settle before a proper diagnosis was settled upon.
The injury could mean that Federico Chiesa is drafted into Liverpool's Champions League squad. The Italian forward was left out by Arne Slot but, as Nottingham Forest have done with Oleksander Zinchenko, Chiesa could now come in to replace Leoni.
More to follow.
