Giovanni Leoni will have to wait another month before returning to Liverpool team training after the severity of his knee injury forced the club to revise his recovery schedule.
The 19-year-old has been out for 13 months after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament on his debut against Southampton in September 2025. Further damage around the knee has made his rehabilitation more complicated than initially expected, prompting Liverpool to take extra care with his recovery.
The plan had been for Leoni to rejoin his team-mates during the recent international break. That target has now moved to the next break, which begins on 9 November.
“It is taking more time than we wanted,” Andoni Iraola said. “With Gio, the plan was to train with the team in this past international break. It is probably now going to be the next international break, so we have lost one month in the process.”
Iraola said the injury involved more than the ACL, making a cautious approach essential if Leoni is to return in good condition.
“With Giovanni’s injury, I wasn’t here but talking to the medical department it wasn’t just an ACL. It was a bad injury, a lot of things around the knee were involved apart from the ACL,” he said. “I think he has to be very confident in the rehab and the process has to be very careful with him.”
Leoni joined Liverpool from Parma for £26m in 2025 but has been unable to establish himself since his arrival. The club’s immediate priority is to ensure he can resume training without compromising his recovery.
There is better news concerning Conor Bradley, who is nearing a return to some group training after suffering a serious knee injury at Arsenal in January. Hugo Ekitike is also progressing well, although the forward remains slightly behind Bradley in his rehabilitation from an Achilles injury sustained against Paris Saint-Germain in April.
“They are both doing very well and they are in a good place,” Iraola said. “Conor is not so far from training with the group – not full training but doing some things with the group. Hugo is a little bit behind that but that was always the plan.”
Iraola cautioned against setting firm return dates for players who have been sidelined for so long, but said Bradley was close to beginning work with his team-mates.
Liverpool also face uncertainty over Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo ahead of Saturday’s Premier League trip to Brentford. All three missed the club’s previous two fixtures after picking up injuries while on international duty.
