Federico Chiesa’s lost season at Liverpool – and what comes next

Federico Chiesa will get his hands on the Premier League trophy at some stage next week and he will take home a winner’s medal.

He will join in with the celebrations on the open-top bus parade through the city, too, and perhaps raise a glass alongside his team-mates and toast Liverpool’s championship success in his debut season.

But Chiesa has been, at best, a peripheral figure, playing just 400 minutes so far across 13 appearances in all competitions. The Italy international forward has not started any of their 36 Premier League games and has failed to make the matchday squad more often than he has played in the top flight.

His only Premier League outings since the turn of the year came when head coach Arne Slot exhausted all his attacking options in an attempt to salvage something late on in the recent away defeats against Fulham and Chelsea. On each occasion, Chiesa was the fifth substitute, handed eight minutes in both games.

He could not do in those cameos what he did in the Carabao Cup final in March, where he scored as a 74th-minute replacement despite playing with no rhythm or momentum due to his months on the sidelines. Initially, that was down to injury, but when he returned to fitness there was simply no room to squeeze him in.

The 27-year-old is so far down the attacking pecking order that Darwin Nunez, despite not scoring in 24 of his 28 Premier League appearances this season, is still ahead of him.

Only last month, Chiesa’s father, Enrico, said his son was happy at Liverpool and determined to see out the remaining three years of his contract.

But if he cannot make the squad now, imagine what next season will look like after the club have completed their summer transfer business and strengthened further. Liverpool are keen to bolster their attack and The Athletic reported on Wednesday they had approached the representatives of Germany international Florian Wirtz, with a view to signing the 22-year-old if he decides to leave Bayer Leverkusen.

Chiesa’s miserable performance in the FA Cup fourth-round defeat by Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle in February — he lost possession 29 times across the 90 minutes — was the last time he started a game. Even when he did manage to score to halve Newcastle United’s lead in that Carabao Cup final defeat, the stoppage-time goal came so late that it effectively counted for nothing.

So much for what he predicted would be an “amazing move” on his arrival from Juventus last summer.

Chiesa was so excited that he asked his wife Lucia to play “You’ll Never Walk Alone” on her phone as he flew over Anfield on a private jet en route to joining. After signing, he said in an interview with the club that he would have “chills and shivers” when making his debut, because it would be “so emotional”. He knew he had to fight for his place and that playing regularly would be difficult as he was in direct competition with Mohamed Salah on the right side of attack but that did not faze him.

For Liverpool, the move was low-risk, agreeing to pay €12million (£10.1m/$13.4m at current exchange rates) to Juventus in four instalments — plus potentially €3m more in performance-related add-ons — for a player who had arrived in a €60m deal from fellow Italians Fiorentina two years earlier.

In one of football’s strange quirks, the new Premier League champions might even make a profit if they sell Chiesa this summer, providing he stays fit.

Liverpool were able to negotiate a cut-price fee to sign him in August, as it was late in the transfer window and his valuation had dropped. Juventus had no interest in offering him a new contract and knew he could leave them for nothing as a free agent this summer. Chiesa insisted he would only move to what he felt was the right club, so Liverpool pounced.

Having turned 27 last October, there is still plenty of time to recapture the dazzling form that made him such an exciting prospect in his younger years, although that is unlikely to happen in a Liverpool shirt.

When new sporting director Richard Hughes was mapping out the season with the recently-appointed Slot last summer, they both felt the need to cover all bases as the window came to a close, so Chiesa’s versatility — albeit as the sixth-choice forward — appealed.

At the time, Salah’s future was unclear as he entered the final season of his contract, so taking the risk of spending big money on a potential replacement, who may end up playing second-fiddle to the Egyptian for most of the campaign anyway, did not make much sense. The other option was to keep Ben Doak as backup, but loaning the young Scot to Middlesbrough of the Championship for the season and seeing his value increase has effectively covered Liverpool’s initial outlay on Chiesa, and that is without taking into account what the club could receive if they sell the latter after a debut year spent largely on the sidelines.

A move back to Serie A would not come as a surprise, though his options there are limited. Neither Fiorentina nor Juventus are interested in a reunion, Roma are considering a new manager as Claudio Ranieri only signed until the end of the season when he was appointed in November, and there is also uncertainty at Milan. The most suitable option looks to be Napoli, who play a 4-3-3 system under Antonio Conte, which would suit Chiesa, and are preparing for a busy summer.

Interested clubs are expected to pitch for a loan deal ahead of the new season but there is no rush for Liverpool to make a decision as they begin to piece together the next phase of their squad-building process.

Chiesa did not even make the bench against Arsenal last weekend and if he doesn’t feature away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Monday either, it would appear the writing is on the wall.

Yet there is a clamour for the attacker, who has played in varying positions across the forward line over a career that has also included 51 appearances for Italy, that just will not go away, and the longer he spends out of the team, the more those Liverpool supporters call for him to be included.

It is never wise to gauge the opinion of a fanbase through comments on social media, so the more extreme views that the soon-to-depart Trent Alexander-Arnold is “robbing” a place in the matchday squad from a player who, unlike him, wants to be at the club should largely be ignored. The general surprise that Chiesa has not been given more of an opportunity in the two matches, against Chelsea and Arsenal, since the title was wrapped up is a growing discussion, though, both in the stands at Anfield and online.

A song that was made up much earlier in the season has also reappeared in recent weeks and is gaining momentum in what is a sign of affection for the former Juventus man. Many just want to see more of the Chiesa who was inspirational for Italy as they won the European Championship four years ago, when he scored against Austria in the round of 16 and Spain in the semi-finals.

“Can you hear them crying in Turin?, Federico, oh he’s here to win,” Liverpool fans sing to the tune of Sway by Dean Martin. “One chat with Arne Slot and he said, ‘Ciao. F*** off, Juve, I’m a Kopite now’.”

Such warmth has not swayed Slot, however, as he continues to prefer Nunez, Diogo Jota and Harvey Elliott as backup attacking options behind Salah, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz.

Chiesa’s playing time has largely been limited due to the brilliant form and incredible durability of Salah, who has started all 36 Premier League matches and is on 28 goals and 18 assists with two games to go. Having signed a new contract, the 32-year-old will likely want to be involved in every remaining minute as the season comes to a close.

With just the Brighton trip and Crystal Palace at Anfield to come, time is running out for Chiesa.

Soon he will be celebrating on Liverpool’s party bus but, after just one year in England, it already feels like he will then need a fresh start.

(Top photo: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

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