If Hercules Was Italian
Giovanni Leoni, then.
So plenty has been happening on this Substack of late.
Liverpool faced Crystal Palace to determine the winners of the Community Shield. They started their Premier League campaign against Bournemouth. And we’ve had season previews and predictions to share.
But as a result, Giovanni Leoni has been forced to wait for his post. The post every new player gets upon his arrival at Anfield. I’ve heard it was one of the main reasons why the Italian decided to join.
Well, with Liverpool not scheduled to face Newcastle United until later tonight, now is the time to talk about Leoni. What exactly has Richard Hughes bought?
So I’m generally reluctant to analyse players as young as this guy. Leoni is still a teenager, which explains why he’s technically nowhere near the finished product, hence the difficulties attached to weighing up his pros and cons.
It’s normal for youngsters to be incomplete. They’re rarely efficient, with their decisions typically refining over time. And in the Premier League, it’s especially important to offer enough time for players to develop on the physical side before judging their capabilities.
But that’s what’s interesting about Leoni. I’m afraid it’s the low-hanging fruit when glancing his profile — so apologies in advance — but he’s simply enormous and essentially built like Superman.
Despite having another three years to continue his growth, Leoni arrives as the second-tallest player in the whole squad, behind only goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Reports vary but the word generally suggests he’s either 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5, which is pretty insane. Liverpool have bought a basketball player here. A mountain. Leoni is a giant, and one who has muscles in all the right places, as Jürgen Klopp would put it.
The ex-Reds boss said exactly that about Joe Gomez many years ago. Some players are tall, but slender. Some are strong but disproportionate. Virgil van Dijk is perhaps the ultimate example of a player who has ideal weight distribution across his body. The Dutchman is rarely outmuscled or unbalanced.
Leoni’s frame seems to have a similar make-up. Tall and strong. And mobile, too, which explains why he’s often eager to engage in contact when defending. He wants a fight. He wants to go shoulder to shoulder with his enemy.
The smallest players are often the best at evading contact. Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, whatever. And that’s because contact doesn’t benefit them. So they evolve as players to find solutions without engaging in physical battles. Basic natural selection. Refine your first touch. Improve your spacial awareness, your dribbling. Don’t get squashed.
Leoni has clearly evolved with the understanding that contact is desirable, likely because he’s never faced a striker who’s stronger than him. And you can include Romelu Lukaku in that.
Parma faced Napoli towards the end of last season, with Leoni engaging in several duels with the ex-Everton tank. Your ordinary centre-back would avoid Lukaku, because it’s tough to get the better of him in a scrap.
Leoni took a different approach. Whenever the opportunity to fight emerged, he took it. It’s worth noting that Lukaku isn’t quite as youthful as he was once, but seeing him get relatively dominated was impressive nevertheless.
It seems to come natural to Leoni to be proactive. Some defenders are inclined to guard the fort. They drop deeper. They get teammates around them. They rarely sell themselves.
Leoni, despite playing as part of a relatively reactive system in Parma, clearly wants to deal with situations. He wants to regain the ball. It’s a principle that has been reinforced for a decade at Anfield, since Klopp’s appointment.
The Italian defender looks like a natural fit in that sense. He shouldn’t need much encouragement to get tight to his opponents. To stay high. To be aggressive.
He’s also — hopefully — accustomed to defending in wide areas, with Palma using a back-three system at times last season. Lots of centre-backs aren’t comfortable on the flanks. Harry Maguire, Sven Botman, Rúben Dias. But some are. Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konaté, Alessandro Bastoni. We like those guys.
With Liverpool investing in a flying full-back duo this summer, it’s a pretty valuable quality on Merseyside. And one that Leoni seems to have based on his limited number of senior minutes to date.
As for negatives — and this part is why I’m generally reluctant to analyse teenagers — Leoni’s desire to be proactive does sting him here and there. You can’t always win the ball.
Sometimes, the art is knowing when to engage, and Leoni is still working on that. His bravery when taking a chance should be applauded. But that same quality also removes him from the game from time to time. He commits fouls when rushing to extinguish fires, and can appear relatively clumsy when doing so.
His ability on the ball is relatively unknown, too. Playing for the 16th-best team in Italy won’t provide you with much of a platform to flaunt your line-breaking passes. His data is noisy to say the least.
For that reason, public on-ball evidence surrounding Leoni is largely beige. That’s not to suggest he’s a negative in possession, no. Far from it. But at the same time, it doesn’t look like we’ve signed Dean Huijsen here.
Leoni strikes me as more of a pure defender than a conductor. More Konaté than Van Dijk. And that’s fine. Although I’m intrigued to see whether he’s capable of becoming the next Leonardo Bonucci as his confidence grows.
Ultimately, as is often the case when Liverpool buy central defenders, the Reds have invested in the finest raw materials with a view to helping the player in question reach his full potential.
Konaté looks like Hercules at his absolute best. A freak of nature. Van Dijk, even more so. A defender like Lisandro Martínez, on the other hand, simply doesn’t have the same ceiling because he’s built like Harvey Elliott.
Leoni has the genes of a top centre-back. Like, one of the elite. And his performances to date look very promising without having yet been exposed to coaching of the standard he’ll experience at Liverpool.
It’s a smart gamble with a high upside. Leoni will probably look a bit raw when you witness him in red for the first time. But keep his age at the forefront of your mind. There’s eight years (!!) between him and Konaté.
We could have another demigod of a defender on our hands here. Just give him time.
I love your insight, technical knowledge and humour - I literally laugh out loud. Also, as I watch various podcasts where you appear, I can hear your voice, which makes The Distance Covered even more enjoyable to read! Great work!
Looking ahead, Leoni could very well be the first of 4 new CBs in the squad post VVD. Come 2027 the squad might only have 2 out of 22 players over 28 y/o in Mac Allister and Gakpo, 3 if Konate stays.
I wonder if they keep the door open for the prime spot in defense.
This transfer might also signal a change of transfer strategy. With him we are getting a typical Brighton/Brentford target and bank on our in-house team to coach him towards becoming a first 11 player. Rather than paying premium fees to these clubs for his development, we accepted that we are a premium buyer in an inflationary transfer market and hence go for quality over value for first 11 players, e.g. Wirtz, Isak. The club probably realized that now our commercial value as a club is better developed winning major honors, rather than looking for undervalued players.