It was one of the tempting transfers of the last summer transfer window. After several weeks of standoff with Juventus over his departure and rumors involving AC Milan, Napoli and FC Barcelona, Federico Chiesa ended up finding a base in England, in Liverpool. Arne Slot thus strengthened his offensive armada with a new element of great talent, which already had Mohamed Salah, Luis Díaz, Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Núñez. For Federico Chiesa, this first adventure outside Italy, after Fiorentina and Juventus, had everything of a golden opportunity to regain his level without pressure after his cruciate ligament rupture in 2022. However, the Italian winger cannot escape to the negative spiral in which he has found himself for several years already. The Reds and the Premier League should have given him the impetus for his renaissance, but so far Federico Chiesa has definitely spent more time in the stands than on the pitch or on the bench.
“I have already said that this makes it very difficult for me, because normally in pre-season a player plays three, four or five matches and is only out for four or five weeks. Instead, he’s been out for so long that it’s not easy to get him back to his best, but it’s good to see that he’s already shown some quality today. But it’s the same for him as for the young guys, it’s not enough to play at this level, you have to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho, Darwin and Diogo. But it’s good to see he’s back and had some good moments in the match“, explained Arne Slot. The former Juventus striker remains a big mystery at Liverpool. Since the start of the season, in fact, the 27-year-old has only appeared four times in total, or 123 minutes. Before entering the field in the League Cup against Southampton, Federico Chiesa had not set foot on a pitch since the end of September.
A privileged return to Italy
According to our information, Federico Chiesa would like to find minutes and a status that matches his talent. If he does not wish to leave Liverpool permanently, the Italian striker would aim for a loan this winter – if possible in Italy. Several Italian clubs have already come forward for information with Inter Milan and Napoli at the top of the list, both determined to strengthen themselves in the race for the Scudetto, but also Fiorentina who would like to repatriate their former player to build on their formidable start of the season. A loan is also viewed favorably by the Reds of Arne Slot: “I don’t know if we saw things the same way, but I think what I saw was what you would expect. If a player is out for five or six months, you shouldn’t expect too much. I have seen ups and downs. I saw some really good moments and I saw some moments where I felt like he could do better than that. For me, it’s completely normal when a player has been out for so long and plays his first match in five or six months“, declared the Dutch coach recently. Federico Chiesa’s salary set at around 7.5 million euros net per season is a significant factor which hinders the ease of negotiations.
For an Italian club to be able to afford Chiesa’s loan, Liverpool will have to cover part of the Italian international’s salary. Under contract until June 30, 2028, Federico Chiesa wishes to relaunch his career after several months of alternating with numerous physical glitches which handicapped his start to his adventure at Anfield. According to our indiscretions, Luciano Spalletti, coach of the Nazionale, convinced the native of Genoa to test the Italian market to regain confidence and regularity, even promising him a return to the national team: “In my opinion, Federico can help any team in any league. It’s this type of player that we are missing at the moment in the national team, the player who eliminates the opponent and who creates the situation alone for the team without having the idea of what the collective should be. He takes responsibility, looks you in the eye and offers you the solution himself“. A return to Italy is therefore the most likely scenario if Federico Chiesa were to leave.
