Leoni, lessons from Van Dijk: the future of Italy's defence is growing up in Liverpool
The 2006-born centre-back, signed by the Reds for over €30m in summer 2025, is earning minutes in the Premier League alongside one of the best defenders of the modern era.
When Liverpool paid Parma over €30m for an eighteen-year-old with 17 Serie A appearances, a few eyebrows were raised in England. A year later, nobody is raising them anymore. Giovanni Leoni, born in 2006, is carving out his place in the Reds' defence with an exceptional mentor at his side: Virgil van Dijk.
With the frame of a modern centre-back, the personality of a veteran and a declared Italian role model — Leonardo Bonucci — Leoni is exactly the profile the new Italy wants to build on: young, brave and unafraid of testing himself in the world's most competitive league.
For the cycle leading to 2030, a partnership with Pietro Comuzzo and competition from Giorgio Scalvini sketch out a potentially elite Azzurri defence. Provided, as always, that he keeps playing.