Federico Chiesa “has failed in England” was the declaration from Italy manager Luciano Spalletti as he passed judgement on the Liverpool attacker.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Chiesa has again missed out on the Italy squad for the upcoming international break.
The 27-year-old last featured for his nation in their 2-0 quarter-final defeat to Switzerland at Euro 2024, and he isn’t currently playing enough to make an impression on coach Spalletti.
The manager said (h/t Football Italia): “Unfortunately, he has failed in England. He has only played 25 minutes.
“He must be more consistent. He needs more defensive phase.”
The 25 minutes Spalletti refers to is his total game time in the Premier League. Across all competitions, he has played 370 minutes.
For a period, Chiesa was considered the biggest prospect in Italian football after starring in their Euro 2021 triumph.
However, successive injury problems led to him leaving Serie A last summer and signing for Liverpool at a cut-price fee of just an initial £10 million.
Since, more injury issues have troubled the winger and he has made just three starts under Arne Slot.
“We’re hoping that Chiesa can play with more continuity and that we can see him train and play regularly,” Spalletti said in January.
The Italy boss was asked by Vivo Azzurro TV if he would like Chiesa to return to domestic football in Italy, where he spent eight years as a senior player with Fiorentina and Juventus.
He responded: “Yes, I would be very much in favour of having Chiesa under our watch in terms of the level of our football, to reintegrate him.
“Because those who have this quality of looking you in the eye and breaking the line in front of them to get to the next one, there aren’t many of them.”
Chiesa has got a difficult job at Liverpool. Nobody will usurp Mo Salah on the right, while the left already has Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz tussling for a starting spot.
His lack of minutes from the bench is telling, though. The Liverpool Echo‘s Paul Gorst recently told The Redmen TV: “I’m of the opinion that he wasn’t necessarily a Slot signing.
“[I think it was] very much Richard Hughes driving that one because of his contacts and expertise in Italian football, coming in as a cut-price, opportunistic one.”
Despite looking promising at times, it is entirely possible Chiesa departs Liverpool in the summer with just one year to his name as a Red.
While it would be a disappointment, perhaps it would benefit his international career more than staying on Merseyside as a squad player.
