Liverpool’s Giovanni Leoni facing year out with torn anterior cruciate ligament

Giovanni Leoni is facing a year on the sidelines after Liverpool boss Arne Slot announced the teenage defender has torn his anterior cruciate ligament.

The 18-year-old, a £26million summer signing from Parma, made his Reds debut in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup third round tie against Southampton but suffered the knee injury in a tackle late on in the 2-1 win.

Leoni has pledged to return as soon as possible but Slot issued a grim prognosis ahead of Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace, where Alexander Isak is poised for his first Premier League start for the Merseysiders.

Leoni’s setback – which leaves Liverpool with just three fit centre-backs in Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate – means he has been replaced in their Champions League squad by Federico Chiesa.

Slot said: “He is not in a good place because he tore his ACL so he will be out for around a year.

“Being so young, coming to a new country, playing so well in your first game, it is very hard to take a positive.

“There is no positive side but he is still so young, has so many years to go after he recovers from a terrible injury like that.”

Leoni’s season-ending injury shines a light once more on Liverpool’s failure to sign Marc Guehi on transfer deadline day earlier this month, with Palace pulling the plug on a £35million deal at the 11th hour.

However, Slot, whose side have made a fantastic start to their title defence with five successive wins and already hold a five-point lead atop the league table, refused to be drawn on the issue.

Slot said: “I don’t think one day before we play them (is the time to be) talking about that again. He is a Crystal Palace player and he has been very important to them as long as he has been there.

“We have to prepare for Crystal Palace, who are a very good team. They haven’t lost for 17 games in a row now and he is part of that team.

“We have more than enough options to replace, if needed, a player at the centre-back position.”

Hugo Ekitike will miss the visit to Selhurst Park following his red card against the Saints, with Isak set to replace him although Slot warned the Swede is unlikely to play the full 90 minutes.

Slot said of the British record signing: “He is further into his pre-season now and normally after two weeks of (his) pre-season you bring a player to 60-70 minutes.”

Slot branded Ekitike’s midweek dismissal as “stupid”, with the France striker initially booked for punching the ball away then given his marching orders for removing his shirt after scoring the winner.

But Slot denied speculation the 23-year-old had been fined for his conduct.

He added: “Disciplined means I spoke to him, but if disciplined means a fine, he didn’t get (that). It wasn’t smart what he did. He recognised that straight away and said sorry to his team-mates.

“He is young. Players of all ages do make mistakes and that is what he did in this situation.

“He is a fantastic human being. If you speak to all staff members and ask them their top three of the warmest and most polite persons, he would be in the top three.”