Meet Giovanni Leoni: Potential $35M transfer bargain who left Romelu Lukaku in a heap

Giovanni Leoni left Romelu Lukaku in a heap on the floor at the back end of last season, dominating the 32-year-old in a physical battle — something that takes some doing for anyone, let alone an 18-year-old.

A few months later, Leoni has left the Italian soccer legend Arrigo Sacchi "angry" that he is leaving Serie A. AC Milan and Inter were among his admirers in Italy, with the feeling initially that the player might prefer to remain in his homeland. Liverpool, though, has instead won the $35 million (£26 million) race.

"Liverpool would make a great signing, and he could thrive in the Premier League," Sacchi wrote in a column for Gazzetta dello Sport. "It’s a shame he’s eluding the big clubs in Serie A.

"On the one hand, the news makes me immensely happy, and on the other, it makes me a little angry. Let me explain — I’m happy that an Italian player is receiving praise from a major club like Liverpool, but I wish AC Milan or Inter, Juventus or Napoli were competing for his transfer, not a foreign club."

Leoni comes from a sporting family — his parents played professional water polo — and not turning 19 until December, he has been identified as a highly promising up-and-coming center-back.

In previous summers, Liverpool has gone for promising young center-backs but never managed to get one over the line. Levi Colwill was liked before he penned a new contract with Chelsea, Leny Yoro chose Manchester United, and Dean Huijsen preferred Real Madrid earlier in this window.

In Leoni, Liverpool has snapped up someone who could go on to prove himself as being of a similar ilk.

"He's still very young but he is definitely one of the brightest of the new breed of Italian defenders coming through," Emmet Gates, an Italian soccer expert for Destination Calcio, tells Liverpool.com.

"He's comfortable on the ball but not amazing yet — that's something to work on in time. And he is not the finished product by any means.

"He's tall, he's strong. He has a bit of Giorgi Chiellini and a bit of Leonardo Bonucci in him. He is kind of a fusion of the two. He loves a tackle and getting himself about, but he also likes pinging the ball from one side to the next. If I were to liken him to anybody, he is kind of a mix of those two."

"He is a very talented and promising defender, but he has only made 17 appearances in Serie A," Lorenzo Bettoni, the editor of Football Italia, explains.

"His best games were probably against Juventus and Napoli, playing against Vlahovic and Lukaku. Parma beat Juventus and got a 0-0 draw against Napoli.

"That is where you can see all of Leoni's physicality and his ability to read the game. He can defend high up the pitch or in the box. He seems to be a very complete defender — but I'm saying 'seems to be' because he is really, really young.

"He can do anything, really. He is pretty good with the ball at his feet as well and he has good stats for passes inside the opposition half as well.

"He has the skills of a modern defender, but his main strength is still his physicality, because despite being 18, he is already pretty big. He looks to become one of the old-school Italian defenders, though again — his technical ability shouldn't be underestimated."

"People in Italy are kind of bemoaning that there was no Italian teams that came in for him," Gates says. "They see it not that they have slept on him, but more like 'Why can't we afford a young Italian defender but Liverpool can?'.

"There is a bit of regret that Serie A is losing a talented defender but it is still early days. He is very promising but to be honest, if I was Liverpool, I probably would have parked him at Parma for another year because he hasn't played a full season.

"He made 17 appearances [last year] and they all came in the last three or four months of the season. So he hasn't even played a full season as a starter.

"It might have been a good idea to leave him at Parma for a year, but he is definitely very promising. I wouldn't be shocked at all if Italy make it to the World Cup in 2026 and he is in the squad, because he is that good — he is definitely one of the most promising defenders of his generation."

"It is a fair price," Bettoni adds. "It is a bit of a risk but it is a risk that Liverpool can take. It is a fee that no other Serie A clubs could afford so generally, I'm not surprised that he picked Liverpool. No Italian side was ever close to that transfer fee.

"At the same time, there was an interview where he said Virgil van Dijk was one of his biggest idols. So, it's not surprising that once he got an agreement with Parma, he didn't want to wait — he accepted the Liverpool offer straight away.

"It's good to see good Italian players moving to the Premier League, from my perspective, because that is where they will develop the most. He's not ready to be a regular starter, but he has time to learn from some of the best in the world."

Huijsen appears to be a logical player to compare Leoni to in some ways. The Spanish international is around 18 months older and moved to Bournemouth a year ago from Italy. While it took the Spaniard a few months to settle, he made his way into the starting XI alongside Illia Zabarnyi by Christmas. Huijsen now plays for Real Madrid, with Zabarnyi landing at PSG this week.

That is not to say that Leoni will follow the exact same trajectory, but he is clearly a talent who arrives with Italians knowing that their league has let a diamond slip away. By getting him now, Liverpool has cut out the middleman and avoided the possibility of missing out again.