It’s difficult to miss Giovanni Leoni.
Despite only being 18 years old, Liverpool’s new centre-back is a dominant physical presence on the pitch. It is one of the reasons why they have signed the 195cm (6ft 4in) defender from Parma, seeing off competition from elite sides in the Premier League and his Italian homeland’s Serie A.
The deal for an initial £26million ($35m) represents another deviation from Liverpool’s usual transfer strategy in what has been a different window for English football’s reigning champions.
Leoni ticks plenty of boxes as a young, talented player with room to develop. This is a profile Liverpool have been looking to recruit for a number of seasons, unsuccessfully pursuing his fellow defenders Levi Colwill (now at Chelsea), Leny Yoro (Manchester United) and Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid). Yet it is unusual to see them spend such a significant amount on someone with so little top-level first-team experience.
Anfield’s latest arrival only joined Parma from Sampdoria last summer, stepping up from Serie B, Italy’s second tier, to top-flight Serie A. His senior career started in the third division with Padova. He made his debut with them aged 16, before getting loaned to Sampdoria in February 2024 — making 12 appearances over the rest of that season, with nine starts. The move was made permanent in the June, and he was then flipped, for a €3million profit, to Parma two months later.
The kid had to wait for his chance in Serie A, but when it came in the second half of last season under new manager Cristian Chivu — who was appointed in February — he took it. He finished with 17 league appearances, 14 of them starts, and with his reputation significantly enhanced.
Leoni showed his versatility across the back line, playing in all three spots of a back three and also at right-back.
Defensive data is tricky to quantify because of a variety of variables. Add the fact that Leoni’s 1,203 minutes of game time last season is a small sample size, and it is difficult to draw too many conclusions from the raw numbers.
So we have to rely on the eye test mainly, and you don’t need to watch for long to see why Liverpool rate the youngster highly and see lots of potential in him.
Standing almost 6ft 5in already, the Italian does not possess the wiry, still-to-properly-develop frame you may expect of somebody his age — he is well-built, and not afraid to use his physicality on the pitch.
He is still learning how to use his body to dominate aerially, but his strength is valuable in ground duels. Just ask Napoli’s Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgium international striker came up against Leoni near the end of last season, and while he is not the physical force he once was, Lukaku is still in the business of bullying defenders. Leoni had different ideas, as shown in the sequence below, where he eases the 32-year-old off the ball as he advances towards goal.
Leoni wants to be on the front foot and aggressive, a key requirement for Liverpool’s back line when defending high up the pitch to prevent opposition counter-attacks.
He is also prepared to venture into the opposition half to pressure an opponent and join in with his team’s press. Here against Monza, he steps out of the back line to compete in and win two duels.
At such a young age, he is a raw prospect and far from perfect, but that is to be expected from a centre-back with so little experience. Growing pains are part of the package Liverpool have bought.
Leoni received one red card last season, and it came from his slightly over-aggressive positioning.
Roma forward Matias Soule exploits the space in behind Parma’s defence here and, as he goes through on goal, is tripped by the youngster.
Parma were often a low-block defensive team, which is very different to the high line Leoni can expect to be playing in at Liverpool. The positive is that he is mobile and can cover a lot of ground quickly.
He shows his recovery speed to win this tackle against Como after his team-mate is dispossessed.
He is comfortable defending in wide areas — another requirement at Liverpool, due to the attacking nature of their full-backs — and will follow opponents into those parts of the pitch or step out to block crosses coming in from the byline.
In this example against Empoli, he is initially beaten by Emmanuel Gyasi, but uses his body to muscle him off the ball and end the danger.
There are occasions where he cannot use his strength to overpower the attacker in open space, as shown in the example below against Verona in December. Quick forwards can cause him more problems than when he battles a target man, but those defensive skills should improve with time.
Leoni reads the game well and anticipates crosses coming into the box, positioning himself to either clear the delivery or be close enough to the opposing forwards to throw himself in front of shots and block them.
He can also use his acceleration to prevent shooting opportunities, as he did in the example below against Juventus, where he moves quickly to ease Dusan Vlahovic off the ball.
Centre-backs have to be more than just defenders in the modern game, of course. Being able to play out from the back is an important attribute any Liverpool centre-back must have.
Last summer, Virgil van Dijk told reporters following a pre-season friendly against Sevilla that he and his central-defensive partner were expected to progress the ball much more with Arne Slot in charge than under predecessor Jurgen Klopp. “You can see we focus a lot on the build-up — a lot more responsibility for our centre‑backs with and without the ball,” he said.
Slot had been taken aback by how good the Dutch defender was at carrying the ball upfield, whereas he admitted it was one of the key areas they were working on with fellow centre-half Ibrahima Konate.
Unsurprisingly, given their final 16th-place position in 20-team Serie A, Parma had one of the lower possession shares in the division last season. Leoni was very safe with his passing, rarely going forward (29.4 per cent) or long (7.1 per cent), data that instantly indicates an area that will be worked on.
The map below illustrates it further, with his tendency to go back to his goalkeeper or play out to the full-backs.
For comparison, Van Dijk played 9.5 line-breaking passes per 90 minutes last season to Leoni’s 3.4. However, playing in Liverpool’s system, his numbers would naturally rise.
There is attacking potential to develop, too, as shown by his involvement in both goals in Parma’s 2-2 draw with Inter in April. Having come on to play as the right centre-back in a back three at half-time, Leoni curled a well-executed pass from wide into the middle of the pitch, which led to Adrian Bernabe’s goal that halved the deficit.
Another pass, this time from deeper, also opened the game up for Parma’s equaliser. There was more fortune to this as the ball he played was deflected, but it found its target, and Jacob Ondrejka tucked it away.
Importantly, Leoni does not lack confidence in possession, pulling off a nutmeg in this example as he brings the ball out from the back against Como.
There were one or two moments of complacency, however.
In that same home game against Verona we looked at earlier, a slight loss of concentration sees him misplace a pass intended for right-back Enrico Del Prato. But Leoni reacts well and makes a recovery challenge, winning the ball back for his side.
There is no doubt Leoni, who turns 19 shortly before Christmas, is a raw prospect, but the talent is obvious.
It is easy to see why Liverpool felt comfortable signing him despite his lack of senior experience, and barring injuries, he will be given time to settle and adapt to a new style of football in another league without being under huge pressure immediately.
(Top photo: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
