كشف: ليفربول فشل في التعاقد مع ثلاثة لاعبين في مركز قلب الدفاع قبل أن يوقع مع جيوفاني ليوني

Liverpool missed out on three 'elite' centre-backs before pulling the trigger on a €35 million (£30m/$40m) deal to sign Giovanni Leoni from Parma.

  • Leoni signed by Reds 
  • have been hunting for elite, young centre-back
  • Defender hunt finally over

كشف: ليفربول فشل في التعاقد مع ثلاثة لاعبين في مركز قلب الدفاع قبل أن يوقع مع جيوفاني ليونيكشف: ليفربول فشل في التعاقد مع ثلاثة لاعبين في مركز قلب الدفاع قبل أن يوقع مع جيوفاني ليونيكشف: ليفربول فشل في التعاقد مع ثلاثة لاعبين في مركز قلب الدفاع قبل أن يوقع مع جيوفاني ليوني

Per The Times, Liverpool have long been on the hunt for an elite young centre-back to strengthen their squad. They had been interested in Leny Yoro before he joined , as well as Levi Colwill at and Dean Huijsen at , before he moved to . Colwill was not for sale, Yoro wanted assurances of first-team football that offered and the Reds could not, and Huijsen wanted a move to Madrid instead of to Anfield.

Now, Leoni has signed a six-year deal at Anfield, with the Reds beating off competition from Milan to secure the youngster’s signature. Signed from Parma, he has just 17 first-team appearances under his belt, and was also of interest to Newcastle, but the Reds have laid out a pathway to the first-team for Leoni, swaying his decision.

Leoni is an youth international, playing for both the Under-18s and the Under-19s, and is now out to make a serious impression on Merseyside.

Liverpool play Bournemouth in their first game of the season on Friday evening. Leoni is likely to be on the bench.