Federico Chiesa handed new Liverpool role as Arne Slot reveals green light given
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Federico Chiesa will be handed a reprieve for Liverpool in the Champions League after Arne Slot confirmed that Giovanni Leoni had suffered a serious knee injury.
Leoni is expected to be sidelined for around a year with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, allowing Liverpool to re-assign his place in their Champions League squad.
The 18-year-old defender, who only joined the club in a £26million transfer from Parma last month, suffered the devastating injury on his Liverpool debut against Southampton.
He was initially left out of the Reds' squad for the competition, but Slot confirmed on Friday that the Italian forward will take his compatriot's place.
"Leoni tore his ACL, so he will be out for around a year," the Liverpool manager said.
"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."
READ MORE:Arne Slot confirms Liverpool's worst fears with Giovanni Leoni injury updateREAD MORE:Liverpool's five options to replace Hugo Ekitike vs Crystal Palace after 'stupid' red card
Asked whether Chiesa would replace him in the Champions League squad, Slot replied: "We have looked into this process, some people do this.
So we're looking into it."
Chiesa joined Liverpool from Juventus last summer and had a difficult debut campaign in which he struggled to make an impact.
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