Liverpool summer transfer gets international call-up after Hugo Ekitike snub

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Less than two weeks after securing a £26 million ($35 million) transfer to Liverpool from Parma, 19-year-old defender Giovanni Leoni received his first call-up to the Italian national team.

Leoni appeared in only 17 Serie A games for Parma last season and has yet to see the pitch for the Reds.

Still, this was enough to earn a spot in new manager Gennero Gattuso's team.

Hugo Ekitike, who joined Liverpool for over a deal rising up to £79 million ($106 million), has scored in each of his first three games.

The Azzuri's next fixture is a road contest — held on a neutral turf in Debrecen, Hungary — against Israel.

Former AC Milan and Italian national team manager Arrigo Sacchi claimed this summer that Leoni would one day be "the linchpin on the Azzuri defense."

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"Some, regarding a possible transfer to Liverpool, object that this young man has only made 17 Serie A appearances so far," he wrote in Gazzetta dello Sport.

A person can have 200 Serie A games under their belt and still not possess the qualities Leoni displayed in his first season as an adult

"For me, he is the best defender in the world and I want to meet him [as soon as] possible," Leoni said of the Liverpool captain