Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has admitted that Federico Chiesa has deserved more minutes this season, a year on from the Italian forward arriving from Juventus on a cut-price deal worth around $13 million (£10 million).
Chiesa has made just 13 appearances totaling little more than 400 minutes so far under Slot. Just five of the games he has featured in have come in the Premier League, though he has now hit the bar required for a player to be guaranteed a Premier League medal.
With only fixtures against Brighton and Crystal Palace remaining in which Chiesa, who wasn’t even in the matchday squad against Arsenal last weekend, could play in, Slot says he should have featured more often. However, there is a good reason that he hasn’t.
“In terms of the quality that he has, he would deserve more time at this club or the club he is playing for,” Slot said in today’s press conference. “He has the quality for us.
“But unfortunately for him, he is in competition with Mo Salah on the right wing. He could also play on the left wing, but then he has Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz [to compete with].
“I don’t think I am wrong if I tell you that all three have had great seasons, so for Chiesa to start one or 2-0 down, because the moment he came in, he wasn’t as fit as the others, then of course that doesn’t help in the beginning.
(Image: Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
“Before he was as fit as the rest, the other ones did so well that there was not a lot of reasons for me to change. Then even to come in the squad becomes difficult.
“Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota are there as well. But is he good enough to play for us? Yes he is, but apparently I have always felt the others deserved the confidence I had in them, and I hardly ever changed that set-up between the three of them.”
Chiesa has been linked with a move away from Liverpool this week. It was claimed in Italy that Napoli was one club willing to offer him a route out of Anfield but the player’s father, Enrico, said earlier in the year that his son was very happy on Merseyside.
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“Federico is doing great in Liverpool,” Chiesa senior told Tuttosport. “He is in a top club that is first in the league and now we hope they win the Premier League!
“He is there to play his cards; he has a great chance. This summer I told him what I have been telling him since he was little.
“In reality, until he was 15 he didn’t play often and when he asked me ‘What should I do?’, I told him to keep training, not to give up, to be ready when his time came.”
Liverpool.com says: Chiesa has a decision to make this summer. If a club that comes in for him can offer regular game time, he would surely have to consider it. Staying, though, is far from out of the question.
