Italy international Federico Chiesa comes on for his Premier League debut with Liverpool during a 3-0 win over AFC Bournemouth at Anfield. (Picture via www.liverpoolfc.com)
Juventus and Italy fans had a pang of recognition when reading Arne Slot’s comments on why Federico Chiesa is not yet fit enough for Liverpool.
The 27-year-old made the transfer to Anfield on August 29 for €12m plus another €3m in add-ons, but has managed only three very brief appearances for the Reds.
He still managed to contribute an assist in the Carabao Cup during his only start, which was a 5-1 victory over West Ham United on September 25.
That was also his last appearance for the club and Slot confirmed in a press conference today that Chiesa will not be part of the squad for tomorrow’s game against Brighton and Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup either.
Slot confirms continuing Chiesa problems
The manager was asked for a timescale on the Italian’s return and gave a worrying response.
“That’s always difficult to say because he goes a bit up and down: sometimes he’s there with us, training for a few days, and then he goes out with injury again.
“So, I don’t want to put days or weeks on it because I think we just have to make sure he gets in the best possible shape and don’t put any pressure on him by coming up with dates.”
This will sound very familiar to Juventus and Italy fans, because it is one of the main reasons why the Bianconeri let Chiesa go for so cheap rather than extend his contract.
The winger had one very serious knee injury, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in January 2022.
The main issue has been the fact he can never put together a run of games without sustaining a new muscular problem.
These are rarely long lay-offs, but they do give him a lack of consistency, which inevitably also affects his form.
It would seem that these problems are continuing at Liverpool and in turn will make Chiesa an unreliable figure for Italy coach Luciano Spalletti too.
