Federico Chiesa had signed for Liverpool in time to be registered for last Sunday’s match against Manchester United, but the Italian played no part in our 3-0 victory at Old Trafford.
Having not played for two months due to being frozen out at Juventus, the 26-year-old has instead been undergoing a belated pre-season of sorts upon arriving on Merseyside.
As per Liverpool Echo, the Italy international is training with the Reds’ under-21s before being due to link up with the senior squad next week once players return from national team duty.
Given that Arne Slot has five other forwards available, and that Chiesa had been inactive for most of the summer, the report cites a potential debut for him in the Carabao Cup tie against West Ham on 25 September, should he be deemed ready for first-team action by then.
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Chiesa hasn’t played since Italy’s Euro 2024 exit to Switzerland at the end of June, so there was no way that Slot could just throw him straight into action for the United game last weekend.
Hopefully three more weeks of training will get him sufficiently up to speed in line to debut against the Irons towards the end of the month. In any case, that fixture would seem ideal for Mo Salah to be rested so that the Italian can come in on the right flank, should he be fit enough to feature.
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Even if the 26-year-old isn’t projected to be a regular starter initially, as outlined by James Pearce, the sheer workload that Liverpool will face during the autumn – and indeed later in the season – means that he’ll still be a hugely important player for us, provided he can stay fit.
That hasn’t always been the case for Chiesa during this career, but hopefully the injury problems which dogged him in the past are now behind him, because he’ll certainly be needed throughout the campaign.
It looks as if he won’t be in the LFC line-up when they travel to his native Italy to face AC Milan in 12 days’ time, but hopefully he’ll be able to finally get his Reds debut the following week when West Ham visit Anfield.
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