Liverpool confirm devastating Giovanni Leoni injury in Arne Slot update

Arne Slot has confirmed that Giovanni Leoni will be sidelined for a year after the defender was carried off on a stretcher during Liverpool's Carabao Cup victory over Southampton. The Italian teenager faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after sustaining an ACL injury in his first start for the club.

Leoni, 18, featured for 81 minutes against Southampton before landing awkwardly near Anfield's Main Stand. The summer acquisition was clearly in pain as he was substituted by Milos Kerkez and immediately taken down the tunnel following initial treatment. Slot has now disclosed that Leoni, who was making his debut since arriving from Parma in a £26million transfer, will be absent for a considerable period.

The Dutchman described it as a 'terrible' injury.

Slot said: "Leoni tore his ACL, so he will be out for around a year. New club, new country, playing so well in your first game, there are no positives, but he is still so young but he has so many years left to come after such a terrible injury."

Following his injury setback, Leoni expressed gratitude to supporters for their backing earlier this week.

"I want to sincerely thank every single person who has shown me support in this difficult moment," Leoni wrote on Instagram.

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"It wasn't the debut I had always dreamed of, but I will give everything to be back playing in this magical stadium as soon as possible. Thank you so much!"

The setback leaves Slot with merely three centre-back choices: Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez.

Ahead of this weekend's clash with Crystal Palace, the Dutch boss refused to discuss Marc Guehi, whom Liverpool failed to secure on transfer deadline day.

"I don't think one day before we play Palace to talk about Guehi again, he is a Palace player and very important for them," he said. "We prepare for Palace, they have not lost for 17 games in a row, so they are a difficult team to beat but so are we. We beat them 1-0 and twice it was a draw. I have enough options to replace a player in the centre-back position. Virgil, Ibou and Joe."

Federico Chiesa will be included in the Reds' Champions League squad having been omitted from the original selection.

Liverpool triumphed over Atletico Madrid in their opening European encounter of the season.

Until the sixth fixture of the league phase, clubs are allowed to make one alteration to their outfield players on List A, should there be a long-term injury or illness.

This enables Chiesa to take Leoni's place in the squad.