£10m Liverpool player may actually be Arne Slot’s new centre-back option, not Wataru Endo

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Giovanni Leoni tearing his ACL was certainly not on the bingo cards of most Liverpool fans this season.

The centre-back made his long-awaited debut against Southampton on Tuesday in a game that ended 2-1 in Liverpool’s favour.

Although the official announcement of the injury hasn’t occurred just yet, Fabrizio Romano has reported that the defender has, in fact, torn his ACL.

This has left Arne Slot in a bit of a pickle as he now only has three senior centre-back options until the January transfer window.

Most fans believe that Wataru Endo will become their fourth-choice defender, but in reality, it feels like Andy Robertson could be the best man for the job.

Andy Robertson could do a solid shift at centre-back for Liverpool until January

Although Leoni is likely to be out until towards the end of the season, the January transfer window may bring up a couple of opportunities for the Reds.

They narrowly missed out on signing Marc Guehi in the summer transfer window, and although they’ve said that they don’t want to make a move for him in January, things may have changed after Leoni’s misfortune.

On the other hand, Robertson is a solid defender, and since Milos Kerkez has come in and taken his starting spot, there’s no reason why the Scotsman couldn’t fill in at centre-back on occasion.

The Athletic have even claimed that Slot himself sees Robertson being able to play in centre-back comfortably, with Ryan Gravenberch another option.

Everything is up in the air at the moment, but if Liverpool want to retain their Premier League title or win the Champions League this season, everyone is going to have to pull their weight.

Andy Robertson could get himself a contract extension if he plays well

Going into the 2025-26 season, Robertson has entered the final year of his Liverpool contract.

Throughout the summer, there were talks of the Scotsman making a £10million move to Atletico Madrid, but, in the end, he chose to stay put.

It’s clear that Kerkez is going to be Liverpool’s main left-back this term, and with Kostas Tsimikas set to return from loan at the end of the season, there may not be a place for Robertson in Slot’s first-team squad.

That is, unless he can make himself useful at centre-back while Leoni is out injured.

At the moment, it’s anyone’s guess what could happen, but on the face of things, Leoni getting injured may not have been the worst possible thing that could’ve happened to the Reds this term, even if they are a bit light at centre-back now.