The 19-year-old signed from Parma in the summer for a fee of around £26M was stretchered off against Southampton in the League Cup at Anfield and was revealed to have torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Leoni underwent surgery and has continued his recovery at the AXA Training Centre and is expected to return at the end of the season in what was a harsh blow for the teenager.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal on Thursday night, Slot revealed that Leoni is part of his long term plans and that he will not shelve the young defender.
“You have to look at the bigger picture, and the bigger picture is that we’ve signed an unbelievably talented player in Giovanni Leoni who will be back next season,” he told reporters.
“This is the way this club works. As much has been said about our spending last summer, it’s not that there is no limitation on us spending.
“We have to do smart things, and this club has always tried to do smart things, to keep up with the teams we want to compete with. That’s not any different now.”
Van Dijk has helped behind the scenes
Leoni recently opened up on captain Virgil van Dijk who he says has been helping him behind the scenes as he adapts to the club and recovers from injury.
"He has the charisma of a captain," Leoni said. "After the injury, he called me right away. I had the same surgery as him, and now we're talking.
"It had never happened to me before, but it was a strange feeling, I thought, 'That's it, period.' It was a huge, intense pain, the strongest I've ever felt in my life.
"I believe that life has certain things in store for me, and fate brought me to this. I tell myself: It must have happened to make me stronger."