Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni’s injury recovery has been delayed, with manager Andoni Iraola admitting the young centre-back is now expected to return to team training during the next international break.
Leoni suffered the serious knee injury only weeks after joining Liverpool and has been sidelined for around 13 months. His rehabilitation had been expected to progress to training with the squad during the latest international window.
However, Iraola said the timetable had shifted by about a month after Liverpool’s Champions League victory over LASK.
Giovanni Leoni injury recovery delayed
“It’s taking more time than we wanted,” Iraola said. “The planning was to train with the team in this past international break [but] probably it’s going to be in the next international break, so we’ve lost one month in the process.”
The Liverpool manager explained that the injury involved more than damage to Leoni’s anterior cruciate ligament, with other areas around the knee also affected.
“Giovanni’s injury, I wasn’t here but talking to the medical department, it was not just an ACL. It was a bad injury; a lot of things around the knee were involved apart from the ACL,” he said.
Iraola stressed that Leoni’s rehabilitation would continue cautiously, with the priority being to ensure the defender is fully prepared before returning to first-team work.
“He has to be very confident. The rehab process has to be very careful with him and we want to make sure once he comes to the team, he stays there in a good place,” Iraola said.
He added that the delay should not be viewed as a fresh setback, although it had pushed back the original schedule.
“It’s true that we’ve had, not a setback, but a little bit of a delay, if you want,” Iraola said. “The plan now is he starts in the next break. It’s not that far but it’s a little bit later than we expected, yes.”
