While the results have mostly been good for Liverpool this season, the performances so far have been somewhat lacking. In fact, one likely has to go back to before the Reds secured the Premier League title last season to find a consistent run of genuinely outstanding performances from Arne Slot’s side.
In particular this season, the forward play of Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo has been worrying. Meanwhile, £116M summer signing Florian Wirtz has yet to score or assist in the league or Europe. Fortunately, fellow new signing Hugo Ekitike has hit the ground running—foolish recent suspension aside—while Federico Chiesa has shone in limited minutes.
The latter has led to a steady thrum of Federico Chiesa is back! amongst supporters dreaming of the 27-year-old Italian perhaps rediscovering his early career, pre-ACL injury form. Despite his strong play, though, it feels increasingly unlikely that will happen at Liverpool.
Chiesa’s strong start to the season was rewarded by the forward being left out of the Champions League squad, a victim of the numbers game and a general lack of established homegrown talent at the club. When space opened up recently due to an injury suffered by Giovanni Leoni, he was belatedly added. Now, though, he has been left out of the travelling squad to face Galatasaray.
Reliable reports suggest the player is fit and that, again, it’s a simple numbers game. On form, though, it’s hard to imagine 22 Liverpool players—including third choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman—who could make more of an impact either in the starting eleven or amongst the eleven allowed substitutes than Chiesa.
It’s always possible, of course, that despite reports he’s fit there are good non-football reasons for leaving Chiesa out. At this stage, though, that feels grasping at straws. There are always players who, for whatever reason and despite appearing to perform well, don’t seem a good fit for a certain manager.
Federico Chiesa, it seems safe to say at this point, simply isn’t a match for Slot. The player has done his best with the time he’s been given. He stayed a second season to keep trying instead of pushing for a move away. And he’s endeared himself to the fans in the process. For his own sake, Chiesa probably needs to move on, perhaps even in January if he can manage it.
Update: Despite earlier seemingly reliable reports claiming Chiesa had been left out despite not having any fitness or injury concerns, manager Arne Slot has since clarified that the player in fact picked up a knock in training and has been held back with an eye to Chelsea on the weekend. We apologize for helping to spread what turned out to be, ahem, fake news and will treat any future claims from the sources involved here with more skepticism.