Giovanni Leoni makes 25-man Golden Boy list in Romano update

Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni has made the 25-man shortlist of finalists for the Golden Boy 2025 award.

The Italian centre-back has been recognised as certainly one of Europe’s elite younger footballers following a breakout marketing campaign with Parma.

There have been 17 appearances made (1,205 minutes) for the Serie A aspect within the 2024/25 season as I Crociati completed sixteenth.

Fabrizio Romano confirms main Giovanni Leoni achievement

(Photograph by Jan Kruger/Getty Pictures)

Fabrizio Romano shared particulars of the 25-strong checklist on X (previously Twitter) on Wednesday night.

The shortlist additionally incorporates outstanding Premier League footballers, together with Leny Yoro (Manchester United), Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal), and Archie Gray (Tottenham), amongst others.

🚨 OFFICIAL: Golden Boy 2025 finalists as 25-men shortlist has been unveiled ⭐️

Désiré Doué 🇫🇷Leny Yoro 🇫🇷Senny Mayulu 🇫🇷Warren Zaire-Emery 🇫🇷Eliesse Ben Seghir 🇫🇷Mamadou Sarr 🇫🇷Ethan Nwaneri 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Nico O’Reilly 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Archie Grey 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Jobe Bellingham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Pau Cubarsí 🇪🇸Dean Huijsen… pic.twitter.com/8AYkVbVqqz

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 15, 2025

Leoni sadly picked up an ACL harm in his solely Liverpool look within the 2025/26 season – a 1-0 win over Southampton within the Carabao Cup.

When will Leoni be again from harm?

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot already confirmed that his younger defender can be sidelined ‘for a 12 months’.

Evaluation from harm professional Ben Dinnery claimed that the footballer could not return to the pitch till as late as early 2027.

Both approach, count on Giovanni Leoni to overlook out on the remainder of the 2025/26 season on the naked minimal.

Who deserves to win the Golden Boy award?

If we’re to foretell the potential winner of the Golden Boy award by way of statistics, our Italian starlet’s possibilities don’t look notably optimistic.

Common ranking within the 2024/25 season

Franco Mastantuono – 7.7/10

Want Doue – 7.5/10

Nico O’Reilly – 7.4/10

Estevão – 7.4/10

Pio Esposito – 7.3/10

Jobe Bellingham – 7.2/10

Kenan Yildiz – 7.2/10

Arda Güler – 7.2/10

Dean Huijsen – 7.2/10

Geovany Quenda – 7.1/10

Rodrigo Mora – 7.1/10

Jorrel Hato – 7.1/10

Aleksandar Stanković – 7.1/10

Eliesse Ben Seghir – 7/10

Warren Zaire-Emery – 7/10

Victor Froholdt – 7/10

Senny Mayulu – 6.9/10

Ethan Nwaneri – 6.9/10

Pau Cubarsí – 6.9/10

Lucas Bergvall – 6.8/10

Mamadou Sarr – 6.8/10

Giovanni Leoni – 6.56/10

Leny Yoro – 6.45/10

Archie Grey – 6.17

* Giovanni Leoni’s common ranking from the 2024/25 season in contrast along with his friends (Fotmob)

That mentioned, (statistical) appearances will be deceiving. The information, as an example, doesn’t have in mind the comparative issue of leagues, which is able to absolutely have influenced every participant’s capacity to thrive for his or her respective golf equipment.

As we’ve seen at a tier above with the Ballon d’Or, arguably unfair weighting is given to attacking gamers, with constant brilliance from goalkeepers and defenders typically undervalued.

The common knowledge could counsel our summer time signing isn’t price a re-examination.

Giovanni Leoni holds Romelu Lukaku's shirt with the striker lying on the turf. — (Photograph by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Pictures)

But, we all know for a proven fact that Giovanni Leoni set himself aside with some severely mature performances in Serie A towards elite strikers like Romelu Lukaku.

So spectacular was the 18-year-old centre-half that legendary supervisor Arrigo Sachi was left ‘satisfied’ that the defender was destined to develop into the ‘linchpin’ of Italy’s defence.

So, stats don’t inform the entire story.