This is the kind of move Liverpool fans have come to expect from the club. As recently as week ago, few had given serious consideration to 18-year-old Parma centre half Giovanni Leoni as a potential target. Today, the player is on his way to Merseyside to undergo a medical ahead of an initial £26M (€30) transfer.
Though work will have begun behind the scenes some time ago, on the public side Liverpool have closed the deal— which could see the fee rise with future add-ons—at a frantic pace and won the signing of a player widely seen as Italy’s top teenage defensive talent to help fill one of the few holes in manager Arne Slot’s squad.
Until the Reds came along, Leoni was seen as a near-lock to end up at Juventus—though perhaps not as soon as this summer. He was also rumoured to have been courted by Newcastle and Manchester United in England, though reports out of Italy suggested neither had convinced him to leave his homeland.
Liverpool, though, convinced him. He will arrive as likely third-choice centre half for the time being at least—though the arrival of Marc Guéhi, if it happens, would likely see the youngster take fourth slot on the depth chart. Leoni’s breakthrough at Parma last season saw him play 17 Serie A matches totalling 1,200 minutes.
The move to Liverpool, though, represents a very clear and massive step up. For the Reds, though, there is a clear belief in the player’s talent and believe that he’s on a trajectory similar to a player like Dean Huijsen, who joined Real Madrid this summer for £50M after spending a single season with Bournemouth.
Huijsen was a player Liverpool and other top English clubs tried to sign, too, and with Leoni the methodology seems clear. Namely, they believe they can turn the player into a world class centre half while cutting out a middle man or two. Whether it works out like that, only time will tell. But the talent is there.