When Liverpool signed Federico Chiesa in the summer transfer window from Juventus, most fans were very happy and agreed that it was smart business from the Reds, especially considering he only cost €12million.
Even though there was a lot of buzz around the Euros winner, he hasn’t kicked on at Anfield like most people had hoped.
The Italian has played three games under Arne Slot and only started once, which was a Carabao Cup game vs West Ham United.
Due to him not playing as much as people had hoped, it has already brought up question marks about whether it was the correct move for Chiesa.
However, in a recent press conference, Slot explained the reason for the lack of minutes when it comes to Italian international.
“He missed a complete pre-season, I said this many times, and going to a league where the intensity might even be higher than the Italian league,” Slot said in his pre-match press conference against RB Leipzig, via GOAL.
“So that makes it difficult for him to make the step towards the intensity levels the rest of the team is at at the moment.”
Despite these reassuring comments from the Liverpool head coach, Italian outlet InterLive has claimed that ‘if things don’t change’, when it comes to Chiesa’s current experience on Merseyside, ‘a return to Italy would be the first option on the table.’
The report also states that the Nerazzurri were one of the clubs interested in potentially signing the Italian on a free transfer before he joined Liverpool for €13million.
As Slot said, the Premier League is a different animal compared to the Serie A. The Reds are also in a very privileged position in that we don’t have to rush Chiesa, we can give him time to bed into the team and learn the system.
Similar things were also said about Ryan Gravenberch last season and look how that has turned out.