Virgil van Dijk showed true colors with Giovanni Leoni gesture after Liverpool injury

Young Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni has detailed the gesture that Virgil van Dijk made for him after the heartbreaking injury that he suffered against Southampton

Virgil van Dijk during the Premier League game between Fulham and Liverpool.(Image: Jacques Feeney/Offside via Getty Images)

Giovanni Leoni says Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is helping him through the recovery process after he picked up an ACL injury on his debut earlier this season.

The 18-year-old, who signed from Parma in the summer for a fee of around $35 million (£26 million), was stretchered off against Southampton in the League Cup at Anfield and is not expected to play again this season, Arne Slot confirmed recently.

However, Leoni says Van Dijk has been there for him. And even though the move to Liverpool has not worked out for him so far, he doesn't regret the switch to England.

"When a team like Liverpool calls you, it's hard not to look at them differently," Leoni told La Gazzetta dello Sport last week.

"I have to say that every day I believe the Premier League was the best choice; I've had the support and affection of my teammates. On TV, you wonder what they'll be like, but then you get to know them and realize they're just normal people.

"Technically, they're almost all monsters; they never lift the ball an inch, and if they do, they apologize. Virgil van Dijk was the player I looked up to.

Giovanni Leoni has suffered an ACL injury at Liverpool(Image: (Photo by Steven Halliwell/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images))

"Dominik Szoboszlai has a style of football I've never seen before. Mohamed Salah is incredible in the way he prepares physically during the week; he's always one of the first to arrive, he recovers, he's obsessed."

While the road to recovery is a long one, Leoni says the hardest part is already over. And asked who talks the most in the locker room, he was quick to point to Van Dijk.

"He has the charisma of a captain," Leoni said. "After the injury, he called me right away. I had the same surgery as him, and now we're talking."

“As soon as I hit the ground, I told Conor Bradley, my teammate: 'I tore my cruciate ligament'.

"It had never happened to me before, but it was a strange feeling, I thought, 'That's it, period.' It was a huge, intense pain, the strongest I've ever felt in my life.

"I believe that life has certain things in store for me, and fate brought me to this. I tell myself: It must have happened to make me stronger."

Liverpool.com says: Leoni is clearly a huge talent. Had he been fit, he would have got more chances this season and not just in the domestic cups. The best he can hope for is a full recovery and to head into the summer raring to go again.