21 hours ago
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Arne Slot has hinted Federico Chiesa has a role to play at Liverpool this season, perhaps ending any chances of him leaving the club in the final 11 days of the summer transfer window.
The Italian was left out of the Reds’ pre-season tour of Asia, and the expectation all summer has been that the 27-year-old will be sold before the market shuts on September 1. But the mood appears to have changed somewhat in recent weeks, with reports that Slot is reconsidering Chiesa’s importance to the team.
A decisive goal in Friday’s Premier League opener against Bournemouth certainly hasn’t hurt his chances of remaining at Anfield, while the departures of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez have left the Reds short of options in the final third.
Slot challenged Chiesa at the end of the last campaign to prove himself worthy of a role at Liverpool, and speaking ahead of Monday’s trip to Newcastle, the Reds head coach said the winger is looking sharper at the start of the new season.
“Yeah, if he's more available, then he has already more chances to impact our results or his playing time,” Slot said, when asked if Chiesa could play a bigger role this term.
“So yeah, but then it's about him staying as fit as he is at the moment.
“So I see a totally different Federico now than through large parts of last season, which is completely normal because he missed out on the whole pre-season, and then comes into a Premier League rhythm in terms of amount of games and in terms of intensity.
“So he's in a much better place now - and as we can all see, when we needed a goal and I looked at the bench, I only had him and Rio [Ngumoha], a 16-year-old, as attacking options.
“So, yeah, for me, although Rio did really well in pre-seasons, it was quite a normal choice to make to bring him in, and he delivered.”
Slot, who last week said Liverpool probably needs to sign one more attacker in the market, revealed he is not expecting a busy end to the summer window, despite interest in Marc Guehi and Alexander Isak remaining.
“No, I don’t think so because then I would be unhappy with the squad we are having, and I am very, very happy with the squad we are having.
“I have always said that maybe having two per position is ideal, but I prefer less than more because you have to disappoint so many players every single time for them not even being in the squad, let alone not playing.
“So I am really happy with the squad, but as always, if we think we can improve in a certain position and there’s a player available that can really make us better, which you could see with Giovanni Leoni, then this club has always shown they will bring these players in.
“But only if everything is what we want: the right transfer, the right player, the right position, and a player that wants to come to us.”
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