'Not a good sign': Arne Slot suggests £26m Liverpool player has suffered a bad injury tonight
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Liverpool beat Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday but their evening was marred by two bits of disappointing news.
The Reds left it late once again to get the win, Hugo Ekitike popping up this time to finish off an excellent pass from Federico Chiesa.
Ekitike was then sent off after taking his shirt off in celebration, and will now miss Saturday’s match against Crystal Palace.
While that was frustrating for Arne Slot, he will have been far more concerned to see Giovanni Leoni stretchered off on his Liverpool debut.
Leoni was excellent against Southampton, giving a glimpse into why Liverpool spent £26m to sign him from Parma.
Unfortunately, the 18-year-old looked in a huge amount of pain after a second-half tackle, and Slot was quick to provide an update on Leoni after the full-time whistle.
Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images
It did not take long for Leoni to show his class on his first start for Liverpool.
He looks like a brilliant addition already.
Sadly, though, there is a real worry that the youngster may now be missing for a very significant amount of time.
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Leoni looked in agony as he was stretchered off by medical staff, and supporters will be desperate for an update on the defender.
Speaking to ITV in the minutes after the full-time whistle, Slot was asked to provide one, but while he declared that things did not look good, the Liverpool head coach was unable to give much more detail.
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“If a player goes off like that it’s normally not a good sign,” Slot grimaced.
“As you can understand we have to wait and see what it is.
It’s normally not positive if a player goes off like this.”
This is such a shame for Leoni, and looks likely to leave Liverpool a little short at centre-back.
The positive is that the former Parma man really did look impressive before his injury, as former Reds full-back Glen Johnson pointed out while speaking to ITV post-game.
“Fingers crossed he recovers quick, it didn’t look too good,” said Johnson.
“But in terms of how he played looked calm on the ball, made some good passes, didn’t really make a tackle until he got injured because he intercepted everything, looked comfortable and like he’s going to be a really good player.”
Get well soon Giovanni.