Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni has sent a reminder to Andoni Iraola as he prepares to return to the squad after a long injury layoff. The 19-year-old centre-back has been out since September after suffering an ACL injury on his debut for the Reds.
Leoni's recovery progress
Leoni joined Liverpool last summer from Parma in a £26million deal, but his time at Anfield has been mostly spent on the sidelines. He injured his knee during the Carabao Cup win over Southampton in September and has been in recovery ever since.
The teenager has been stepping up his rehabilitation in recent weeks but was not part of the squad that travelled to the United States for pre-season. In a post on his Instagram story, Leoni shared photos of himself doing individual training and another of someone standing on a clock, with the caption: “countdown”.
Iraola's update
Iraola was asked about Leoni's recovery during the US tour and admitted the defender is the closest to returning among Liverpool's long-term absentees. "Right now we have different situations in terms of injuries," Iraola said last month. "The three that you said (Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley and Leoni) that are big, big injuries. It's taken them months to recover.
"And then apart from those three, we have Stefan [Bajcetic] and Wataru [Endo] that are close to getting to training with the group. They will even start on this tour - Stefan and Wataru - training not fully maybe, but partially with the group. With the others, we'll have to wait more. I think the closest one to returning is Leoni. Conor and Hugo especially are way off. We are talking about months and still a lot of time out."
Other absentees
Liverpool were without club captain Virgil van Dijk for the US tour as he had an extended break after the World Cup with the Netherlands. Joe Gomez suffered an injury early in the opening friendly against Sunderland, while Jeremy Jacquet did not feature in any of the three friendlies in the US.
