After being left out of the Juventus squad and rumoured to be on the move to Barcelona, Italy international Federico Chiesa has chosen Liverpool as his next challenge.
For the first time in England, he has not been able to get as much playing time as he would have liked, partly due to injury, and a return to his homeland within a year is frequently discussed.
With all the major Serie A clubs interested, the 27-year-old winger’s priority is to prove his worth at Anfield. According to Christian Falk, a German journalist, he has no plans to leave Liverpool and has indicated that he could still be with manager Arne Slott next season.
“Not True: Ex-Bayern candidate Federico Chiesa wants to leave Liverpool in the summer. He wants to fulfil his contract until summer 2028. He was also not interested in the winter interest from Napoli, Inter Milan and Lazio because he wants to assert himself on Merseyside.”
“The fact that he has had problems so far is due to his two injuries. He wants to show Liverpool this season just how valuable he can be.”
Fact Files column for the Daily Briefing
The former Fiorentina winger, who has been on the pitch for 51 games for Italy after an explosive performance at the last two EUROs, has still never started in the Premier League and has played less than 400 hours in total.
Mohamed Salah is an absolute force, and with Luis Diaz and Cody Gacupo playing on the left, the competition for regular places is fierce. On the contrary, his opportunities to start in the middle of the park are limited, and it is hard to grasp how much the Dutch captain values him.
Darwin Nunez is likely to leave, and if Luis Diaz is unable to renew his contract, a trip to Barcelona is a real possibility. Although they plan to spend money on a new forward, bringing three players into the team at once would be extremely difficult and could lead to a budget shortfall.
Maybe they will use more of 16-year-old academy forward Rio Ngumoha in addition to Scottish international Ben Doak, whose play improved at Middlesbrough, but the former is not that highly rated and the latter is still lacking experience.
In that sense, keeping the Italian winger, who is trying to re-establish himself in England, is a good option, but what kind of front line will they use next season going into the new season…?