After Federico Chiesa completed his first full 90 minutes for Liverpool in the 3-2 loss to PSV Eindhoven, Arne Slot has declared him “ready for more” at long last.
Chiesa took the biggest step of his fledgling Liverpool career so far when he started and played the full 90 in a rotated side against PSV.
The winger was arguably the visitors’ Man of the Match, with a hand in both goals, and his performance generated talk of a more prominent role moving forward.
While he will drop out of the side when the Reds head to Bournemouth on Saturday, with Mohamed Salah set to take over on the right, Chiesa can now be considered a viable option in the league.
• READ: Chiesa gives Liverpool a quality they were missing – he can now be key
That is the opinion of Slot who, speaking on Friday, commended his No. 14 and Liverpool’s performance staff for reaching a big milestone in his long-term fitness.
“Yeah of course, he’s ready for more minutes in the Premier League,” he told reporters.
“Because if he can play 90 at Champions League level, then you are able to play an amount of minutes in the Premier League.
“His main problem, if you want to call it a problem, is that he’s in competition with Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo, Mo Salah and Diogo Jota.
“I think you agree with me that they are doing quite well also.
“But it’s very good for us. It was six or seven months ago he said, against Switzerland when [Italy] lost in the Euros, was the last time he played 90 minutes.
“It’s very good from him, but definitely also from our performance staff that we’ve, during training sessions, got him to the point that he’s able to play 90 minutes without a lot of friendlies or whatever.
“So big compliment for him, how hard he’s worked, and for the performance and medical staff as well.”
It is interesting that Slot named all five of his senior forwards as competition for Chiesa, with it expected that the summer signing will be able to cover all three positions across the attacking line.
Though principle backup to Salah, he can interchange with the likes of Gakpo and Diaz on the left wing and up front too.
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Slot’s preferred forward line remains Salah, Gakpo and Diaz, but as the dead-rubber loss to PSV showed there will be plenty of opportunity for the head coach to rotate in the coming months.
Chiesa’s versatility and newfound fitness will aid this and it can only be a positive that he is now in contention for minutes in high-profile matches.
