Liverpool's Injury Challenges: Ekitike, Leoni, and Bradley's Returns
Liverpool’s thin squad has spent the opening stretch of the season walking a tightrope. The transfer window has closed, the gaps are obvious, and yet the cavalry, at long last, is edging back into view.
No right-sided winger. No new midfielder. No extra right-back. For a club operating at Liverpool’s level, that is a risky hand to play. A late push to prise Malo Gusto from Chelsea on loan underlined the concern inside Anfield: they wanted a player who could plug more than one hole, someone comfortable both at right-back and in the middle of the pitch. Chelsea’s stance was firm. No cheap deals, no favours. The door shut.
So Liverpool go with what they have – and what they hope to have back.
According to The Times, the club expect Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley all to feature for a “chunk” of this season. Given the severity and length of their layoffs, that line alone changes the mood around the training ground.
These are not routine knocks. Ekitike, the most recent casualty of the three, has been out since April. Bradley has not kicked a ball since the start of the year. Leoni has been sidelined since last September, staring at the same rehab walls for close to 12 months.
When injuries drag on that long, timelines become blurred. Fitness reports turn vague. The questions shift from “When is he back?” to “What will he look like when he does come back?” Liverpool know that simply getting these players onto the pitch again is only the first step. Match sharpness, confidence, rhythm – those will take far longer.
That is what makes the idea of each of them playing a meaningful portion of the campaign so significant. A “chunk” is not ten minutes here and there. It suggests a proper run: weeks, perhaps a month or more, of being available, selectable, and able to shoulder some of the burden.
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Leoni is the closest. The expectation is that he will be back in contention soon, though Liverpool will not rush him. After a year out, there is no point sprinting into another setback. He offers relief, not just in numbers but in options, at a time when the squad is creaking.
Ekitike looks further away, likely needing to push towards the Christmas period before he can realistically feature. Even then, the club will manage his return carefully. The hope, though, is that he still has a role to play in 2026, not just as a late-season cameo but as a genuine contributor once his body catches up with his talent.
Bradley is the mystery. Updates on his condition have been sparse, bordering on non-existent. The extent of his problem, the true pace of his recovery – neither has been made entirely clear. Liverpool’s late scramble for a right-back hardly screamed confidence in his short-term availability.
Yet The Times’ suggestion that Bradley, too, could play a chunk of the season changes the complexion of that story. If he can get back on the grass and stay there, he instantly alters the right side of Liverpool’s defence and eases the load on a back line that has been stretched to its limit.
Liverpool did not get the reinforcements they wanted from the market. They will have to take them from the treatment room instead. How far this season goes may depend on how quickly – and how strongly – Ekitike, Leoni and Bradley can turn from names on an injury list into names on a teamsheet.
