"It's difficult to say when he will return," Slot on Federico Chiesa

Federico Chiesa's adventure at Liverpool has not gone according to plans so far. The Italian arrived at Anfield wih the aim to revive his career after being plagued with injuries in his time at Juventus. Nevertheless, after earning his first start for the club in their Carabao Cup win over West Ham, it seems that his lack of fitness continues to be the difining factor distancing him from top players around Europe.

The winger has not featured for the Reds in over a month and from the looks of it that is set to continue for at least another week, as Liverpool prepare to face Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. “Federico, I’m not expecting him to be in the squad tomorrow,” Arne Slot told reporters at the press conference ahead of the match. “How long? That’s always difficult to say, because he goes a bit up and down."

The Dutchman revealed that Chiesa's fitness condition is continuously flactuating, making it difficult for the team to set a timeline for his return. "Sometimes he’s there with us, trains a few days, and then goes out for injury again. I don’t want to put days or weeks on it, because I think we just have to make sure he gets in the best possible shape. I don’t want to put any pressure on him by coming up with dates," he explained. 

Chiesa's rocky start to life at Anfield has led to rumours, predominantly from Italian media, over a potential return to Serie A on loan. However, the Liverpool boss was quick to shut down such speculations. "Chiesa loaned out in January? That hasn’t gone through my mind at all," the former Ajax manager responded. “I think the first and foremost is he gets fit again and then we can see where he is. “I think there were also reports in Italy [on what I said], what I meant about him was that he missed pre-season and in pre-season that he was on low-intensity sessions, because he had to train with three or four players apart from the group," he further explained. 

“Going from there to a high-intensity league, to a high-intensity playing style, is difficult in general for every player, but especially if you have a pre-season like this. We knew this before, so we knew we had to be really careful to adjust where we could to his individual needs," Slot reassured.  “But it hasn’t been perfect yet, so we’re trying to find the right way of building him up without overloading him. “That has been difficult until now, but I have full confidence that will happen. Let’s let him first be fit.”

 

October 29, 2024