Brighton at home Saturday 13th Dec at 3pm

[Sus]

Yeah it’s important not to forget about Leoni who the club had huge expectations for. That injury is a massive set back which unfortunately means he may never reach the potential we hoped he would.

Hopefully not. You never know how players come back from ACL injuries but the fact that he's only 18 improves the odds significantly for him

What a massive shame though, he would have got some game time for sure this season

[rudedog]

Hopefully not. You never know how players come back from ACL injuries but the fact that he's only 18 improves the odds significantly for him

What a massive shame though, he would have got some game time for sure this season

It’s doubtful we will be able to provide him with the game time he’d need to get back to the levels we hoped he’d be at. He will have lost an entire year of development, it will be another year of regular playing to get back to the level he was at pre-injury. That’s likely two years of development lost at a time of his career that is often ‘make or break’ for young players.

I think we need to be realistic and accept it’s unlikely he has a future at LFC - not saying it’s impossible, just unlikely

[Doc_Piptorious]

It’s doubtful we will be able to provide him with the game time he’d need to get back to the levels we hoped he’d be at. He will have lost an entire year of development, it will be another year of regular playing to get back to the level he was at pre-injury. That’s likely two years of development lost at a time of his career that is often ‘make or break’ for young players.

I think we need to be realistic and accept it’s unlikely he has a future at LFC - not saying it’s impossible, just unlikely

Quite possible you are right, generally what you are saying would ring true, but the two things he has in his favour imo are age and the position he plays in.

He turns 19 this coming weekend so by the time he gets back to training he will still have about six months before turning 20. So realistically he could be back to his pre injury level (or maybe a little above if lucky) months before he turns 21.

And that is where the position he plays in comes into it. CBs generally hit peak a little later than other outfield players so rather than him being a couple years ahead of most CBs in terms of a break through age, he might ( with the big caveat of making a full recovery of course) be breaking through at the level needed at a more "normal" age for a good CB.


That will be the hope for him anyway I imagine and will be what I will be clinging to in terms of his comeback.

[peterbread]

The best example we could look at is Gomez he did his at 18 in his first season with us having only 50 games between Liverpool and Charlton. Yes I know his injury record isn’t great but he still developed into a very good player. As long as Leoni isn’t as fragile as Gomez he can still come back from it.

Wirtz did his at 18 with 60 league appearances for Leverkusen.

I get the idea with so much crucial football being missed so only time will tell but he’s got two players with him at the club to help him out who’ve done it at the same age.

There are plenty who have missed big chunks of football in those 18-20 years without much experience and still developed because of persistent injury. I know an ACL injury is different but since the talk was missing those years of development I thought I’d add that.

[rudedog]

Quite possible you are right, generally what you are saying would ring true, but the two things he has in his favour imo are age and the position he plays in.

He turns 19 this coming weekend so by the time he gets back to training he will still have about six months before turning 20. So realistically he could be back to his pre injury level (or maybe a little above if lucky) months before he turns 21.

And that is where the position he plays in comes into it. CBs generally hit peak a little later than other outfield players so rather than him being a couple years ahead of most CBs in terms of a break through age, he might ( with the big caveat of making a full recovery of course) be breaking through at the level needed at a more "normal" age for a good CB.


That will be the hope for him anyway I imagine and will be what I will be clinging to in terms of his comeback.

Yeah not saying it’s impossible, just think it’s an unlikely scenario at the moment. Hopefully I’m wrong but I think a move will be the best way for him to get the game time he will need