Chiesa ready for more Liverpool minutes, Slot: ‘a big asset for us’ | OneFootball

Liverpool coach Arne Slot has suggested that Italy international Federico Chiesa is ready to pick up more first-team minutes for Liverpool after making his debut against Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday night, insisting that the 26-year-old will become ‘a big asset’.

The former Juventus winger came on as a last-minute replacement for Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah in San Siro on Wednesday night, his first bit of competitive action since the end of the 2023-24 season in May.

Chiesa endured a difficult pre-season after being told that he would not be part of Thiago Motta’s plans for the 2024-25 campaign. He was left to train individually for the majority of the summer.

Liverpool put him on a personalised training programme to get him back up to full match fitness, which was why Luciano Spalletti was unable to select him for his most recent Italy national team squad.

Slot provides Chiesa update after Liverpool debut

Talking to Adriano Del Monte and BeIN Sports after Tuesday’s clash against Milan, the Liverpool coach provided an update on Chiesa’s fitness and availability.

“I think we will see more of the players who have not played today or in other games in the future. But he’s getting fitter and fitter,” Slot said when asked about Chiesa’s introduction.

“He had a difficult pre-season because he was not always able to train with the first team at Juve, so he had to train on his own, and it takes a bit of time to get to match fitness.

“It’s getting better and better, he needs playing minutes now, but he has competition from some good wingers as well, so let’s see when we’ll use him, but he’s gonna be a big asset, a very good player for us that’s clear. That’s what we knew before we signed him and that’s also what we see on the training ground now.”