Liverpool star out until December, injury worse than expected with multiple complications
Liverpool have been dealt another injury blow ahead of this weekend’s Premier League trip to Brentford, with Andoni Iraola providing a concerning update.
The Reds head into Saturday’s clash in good spirits after cruising past LASK in the Champions League this week, with Bradley Barcola scoring a hat-trick in an impressive attacking display.
However, it wasn’t just the Frenchman who earned praise from Iraola, with teenage midfielder Trey Nyoni also catching the eye after being handed an opportunity to impress.
“Trey is a player that I think, being very young with not a lot of minutes in the first team, he’s very mature,” Iraola told reporters. “He understands the situations very well, he understands the game very well. Tactically, I think he’s really smart.
“But he has to continue doing the steps in the right direction. I’m confident with him.
“He has been involved, I think, in most of the last games, but he has to keep this level of performance, of training.
“If he has to play as a six, as an eight, he has to play one minute, he doesn’t have to play, he has to start and play all the game like yesterday – he has to be there, putting pressure also on the other midfielders.
“And I think it’s very good for us that we can put [in] these young players with not a lot of experience and they can perform in a competition like the Champions League or in the Premier League.”
Nyoni could be called upon again against Brentford, with Dominik Szoboszlai a doubt due to a hamstring issue and Ryan Gravenberch unavailable through suspension.
Iraola also revealed that Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo are facing late fitness tests ahead of the trip to west London, while providing an update on Giovanni Leoni’s lengthy rehabilitation.
Liverpool confirm Giovanni Leoni injury delay
Speaking ahead of the Brentford clash, Iraola confirmed that Leoni’s recovery from a serious knee injury has taken longer than initially anticipated, with the Italian now unlikely to return to first-team training until the November international break.
The 19-year-old had originally been expected to rejoin his teammates during October’s international fixtures as he recovers from a torn ACL, but complications surrounding other areas of his knee have forced Liverpool to delay those plans by approximately a month.
“It’s taking more time than we wanted. The planning was to train with the team in this past international break [but] probably it’s going to be in the next international break, so we’ve lost one month in the process,” Iraola told Liverpool’s official website.
“Giovanni’s injury, I wasn’t here but talking to the medical department, it was not just an ACL – it was a bad injury, a lot of things around the knee were involved apart from the ACL.
“He has to be very confident, the rehab process has to be very careful with him and we want to make sure once he comes to the team, he stays there in a good place.
“It’s true that we’ve had, not a setback, but a little bit of a delay, if you want.
“The plan now is he starts in the next break. It’s not that far but it’s a little bit later than we expected, yes.”
Leoni has been sidelined since suffering an ACL tear on his Liverpool debut against Southampton in the Carabao Cup in September 2025, having joined the Reds from Parma earlier that summer.
His latest delay means a competitive return is unlikely before early December at best, with Liverpool understandably reluctant to rush the youngster back after more than a year on the sidelines.
Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet are regarded as important parts of Liverpool’s long-term defensive future, although the Italian’s prolonged absence could also influence the club’s plans for Ronald Araujo.
With Araujo’s permanent future still to be decided, any concerns over Leoni’s recovery may strengthen the case for retaining the experienced defender beyond his current arrangement.
