Journalist fears for Liverpool man’s future after something ‘rather damning’ happened on Sunday | OneFootball

One Liverpool player has now had his future at the club cast in doubt after a ‘rather damning’ turn of events in recent days.

Arne Slot restored a number of familiar names to his starting XI for the Reds’ Premier League clash against Arsenal, but there wasn’t even a place on the bench for Federico Chiesa, whose five top-flight appearances this season have all come as a substitute.

Napoli are reportedly seeking to bring the 27-year-old back to Serie A after just one season in England (Gazzetta dello Sport), although Christian Falk claimed last month that the Italy international remains keen to prove himself at Anfield.

Chiesa’s Liverpool future called into question

In the latest instalment of Liverpool Confidential for the Daily Mail, Lewis Steele – in conjunction with Dominic King and Aadam Patel – felt that the forward’s latest omission from the matchday squad on Sunday doesn’t bode well for his future on Merseyside after many months of living off scraps in terms of minutes on the pitch.

The reporter wrote: ‘After a brief cameo away at Chelsea to take his appearances total to five in the Premier League – enough to qualify for a medal despite his minutes only adding up to 41 – the winger was nowhere to be seen in the next squad.

‘That is rather damning and it feels like the end of the short road is near for Chiesa. It will be a shame if he does leave as he seems a well-liked figure and wears his heart on his sleeve but, judging from team selections, boss Slot just does not fancy him.’

(Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Chiesa has barely featured in his first season at Liverpool

There’s no escaping that the Italian has had a worringly short supply of game-time this season, playing just over 400 minutes since his arrival at Liverpool almost nine months ago and managing little more than a quarter of an hour on the pitch in the Premier League since the end of January (Transfermarkt).

That comes with the caveat of having a Mo Salah-shaped obstacle to overcome to try and get into the starting XI, but Chiesa hasn’t even made the matchday squad for 16 of the 34 top-flight matches the Reds have played since he came to the club. Even allowing for his injury problems in the autumn, that’s a far from cerebral indictment.

Slot has certainly been slow to put his trust in the 27-year-old, who’s been mostly available for selection since the turn of the year, but we wouldn’t be in favour of jettisoning the Italian just yet.

It wasn’t helpful that he was frozen out at Juventus last summer and didn’t have a proper pre-season, something that he’ll hopefully be afforded in 2025, and he showed in his goalscoring cameo off the bench in the Carabao Cup final what he can offer to the team.

Chiesa’s first campaign at Liverpool has largely been a write-off, but he deserves a chance to properly prove himself next term. He does need to make the most of any opportunitites he’s afforded, though.