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News
- 3 hours ago
Should Arne Slot be giving more opportunities to Federico Chiesa?
Carlo Garganese
- 21 Oct 2025 08:01 CDT
- 4 min read
News
What does Federico Chiesa have to do for Arne Slot to love him?
That is the question being asked by almost all Liverpool fans right now.
Current ETV
Federico Chiesa
F (CR)
Liverpool
Federico Chiesa
F (CR)
Liverpool
ETV Range
€14.7M - €17.9M
Ask any Reds supporter what their biggest frustration is today, it will be why Slot simply refuses to start the Italian winger.
Chiesa is adored at Anfield despite - in terms of minutes - having barely played for Liverpool ever since his €15 million (£13m) move from Juventus at the end of the 2024 summer transfer market.
In fact, Chiesa has only mustered 637 minutes of action in 15 months as a Liverpool player.
In the Premier League that number drops to a shocking 185 minutes of playing time.
Liverpool fans love him because despite being fed scraps by Slot throughout their title-winning season, Chiesa remained a true professional.
He worked his socks off in training, regularly spoke of his love for the club and fans, and always insisted that he would make it and become a Liverpool star.
Even when he was humiliatingly left out of Liverpool's Champions League squad list this season by Slot (he later earned a reprieve after Giovanni Leoni's ACL injury), Chiesa refused to give up on his Liverpool career.
His attitude was admirable for a player with a big reputation, someone who was one of the best players at Euro 2020 when Italy won the tournament.
A serious ACL injury for Juventus in January 2022 derailed Chiesa's career and he has never been the same player since.
Without a pre-season a year ago, Slot often used the excuse that Chiesa was not at the level required physically to shine in a much faster and intense Premier League.
He also, perhaps with some merit, pointed out to the extreme competition Chiesa had in attack.
But this season, these excuses no longer wash despite a record-breaking outlay in the transfer market on attackers bringing in Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.
Isak, Wirtz and the legendary but ageing Mo Salah have all flopped so far this season.
Isak has only one goal (in the EFL Cup), Salah two, while Wirtz has zero goal contributions in official competitions.
Chiesa, meanwhile, despite only being handed scraps again off the bench, has been on fire.
In 171 minutes of football this season, he has five goal contributions - two goals and three assists.
He is averaging a goal contribution every 32 minutes.
In the Premier League he is averaging a goal contribution every 24 minutes.
With Liverpool struggling so much this season, having lost four games in a row now, it is Chiesa who has lifted them every time he has been introduced as a sub.
No idea what more Chiesa has to do to start. 20 minutes he gets to influence the game and does it. Every. Single. Time. pic.twitter.com/JhQMHpXVqd
— Sibi (@SibiLFC) October 20, 2025
On Sunday, he assisted Cody Gakpo just six minutes after coming on for Liverpool's temporary equaliser against Man Utd.
He equalised minutes after coming on versus Crystal Palace and scored the decisive goal on the opening day versus Bournemouth just six minutes after being introduced.
Chiesa looks sharp, hungry and is shining while the likes of Salah and Isak are struggling. He also gets the crowd going.
But while Salah and Isak keep playing amidst this slump, Slot refuses to give Chiesa anything more than 10-20 minutes off the bench.
His only start this season was in the EFL Cup. Chiesa was man of the match, assisting both goals in a 2-1 win over Southampton.
There is no excuse now for Slot not dropping one of Isak or Salah and giving Chiesa some chances from the first whistle.
Indeed, Slot's actions are starting to feel almost personal.
It is possible, of course, that Chiesa, at this stage of his career after that serious ACL, is best suited as an impact sub.
But before we reach that conclusion, he deserves the opportunity to prove to everyone again that he can make it as a Liverpool star.
The Champions League trip to Germany to play Eintracht Frankfurt would be a good place to START.
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