FeatureGiovanni Leoni factfile: Everything you need to know about the 'little lion'
Learn all about Liverpool's newest defender, Giovanni Leoni.
The 18-year-old has completed a transfer to the Premier League champions on a long-term contract, arriving after one season with Serie A side Parma.
Get to know the Reds' new No.15 in the following factfile...
A rising talent. Leoni experienced his first taste of men's football at the age of 16 years and three months. He debuted for Padova in a Serie C fixture with UC AlbinoLeffe in March 2023. That saw him become the youngest player in all of Italy's professional leagues to make a debut during the 2022-23 season. Having risen through the youth set-up at Padova, he moved up a league in February 2024 by signing for UC Sampdoria.
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A record-breaker at Parma. The centre-half made 12 appearances for Sampdoria in his half-season in the Italian second tier, before Parma moved to sign him ahead of their return to Serie A in 2024-25. In just his sixth appearance for Parma, Leoni became the club's youngest defender in history to score in the top flight. Aged 18 years and 50 days, he put away a second-half header in a clash with Cagliari last September.
His style of play. Parma listed Leoni's height at 1.95m (6ft4in), with that stature seeing him win 60.6 per cent of duels and 63 per cent of aerial duels last season. He is said to be comfortable using the ball with both feet, registering a passing accuracy rate of 88.7 per cent in 2024-25. Of his 619 total passes, 180 were forwards and 535 classed as short. Roberto Baronio, Leoni's assistant coach at Sampdoria, said: "He's a very smart guy. When you have above-average intelligence, you can go further, and he can read the opponent's intentions. It's a skill we noticed early on in him. When a defender encounters a fast attacker, or a more powerful one, he tries to 'manage' him, with simple shoulder thrusts or by anticipating the ball. These are subtleties, tricks that usually only an experienced player can possess when he's already familiar with the player he's facing. But Leoni already has this knowledge, this level of cunning."
Italian legends are big admirers. Andrea Pirlo, one of football's greatest midfielders, was Leoni's head coach at Sampdoria. After Leoni made the step up to Parma, Pirlo said: "We're dealing with a fantastic lad. I was sure he would make it to Serie A. He deserves it." Two-time European Cup-winning coach Arrigo Sacchi, meanwhile, wrote of Leoni: "If someone is good, if someone has their head in the right place, it's immediately obvious. A person can have 200 Serie A games under their belts and still not possess the qualities Leoni displayed in his first season as an adult. Talent knows no age. Let's also give him the opportunity to make mistakes. At 18, some mistakes are expected and can be forgiven. And in any case, Leoni won't make many. He's a tough guy who's already learned the fundamental lesson: keep your head down and work hard."
His football inspiration. Leoni will now learn directly from the player he has grown up admiring. He revealed while at Padova that he looked up to Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk. It was reported in the local media in Padua that Leoni has been obsessed with the Premier League since a young age, knowing every detail about every team.
He has a nickname. Giovanni's surname translates from Italian to English as 'lions', and the player was sometimes referred to as 'leoncino' in his homeland – the little lion – after being assigned the nickname by his first football coach.
Liverpool's Italian connection grows. When he takes to the field, Leoni will become the eighth player born in Italy to represent Liverpool's men's team. He follows a path laid by Daniele Padelli, Andrea Dossena, Alberto Aquilani, Fabio Borini, Mario Balotelli, Thiago Alcantara and Federico Chiesa.
His social media. You can follow Liverpool's newest recruit over on his verified Instagram account @giovannileonii. At the time of publication, it has just over 65,000 followers.