The 27-year-old from Genoa, has found life in Liverpool tough, struggling to get into the team with rumours circling around him for much of the season.
Chiesa had not played for a team outside of Italy before signing for the Reds, having only featured for Fiorentina and Juventus.
Despite not as many games as he may like, Chiesa could still prove to be a huge part of this Liverpool team.
Chiesa’s journey to Liverpool
Federico was born into a football playing family, with his father Enrico having played professionally for Fiorentina.
Federico came through the ranks at Fiorentina, making his league debut against Juventus in 2016.
Chiesa didn’t burst onto the scene, but his skills were enough to earn him a place in the team at one of Italy’s most famous clubs.
He capped his time in Florence with 19 goal involvements in 34 league appearances in the 2019/20 Serie A season.
Chiesa even captained the team on the final day of the season in a 3-1 victory over SPAL.
He began life at Juventus with a two-year loan deal, before moving to Turin permanently.
Chiesa’s first season with Juve was his best, as he recorded eight goals and eight assists in Serie A.
He never quite fulfilled his full potential there, and after a few bad seasons through injury, Chiesa’s value dropped, and Liverpool swooped in at the end of last summer for a £10 million deal with £2.5 million in add-ons. A steal.
Chiesa’s Mo Salah problem
The obvious problem with being a new right winger at Liverpool is breaking into the team ahead of Mo Salah.
Federico Chiesa has not managed to do that. We don’t know how much Arne Slot had to do with the transfer, but presumably Slot wanted him at least to a certain extent for his plans.
Chiesa has been written-off by some Liverpool supporters, after poor performances at Southampton in the Carabao Cup and like a lot of Reds players against Plymouth Argyle.
Despite this, and albeit across a small sample size, Chiesa has some promising statistics as a Liverpool player.
Chiesa is in the 99th percentile among forwards for shot-creating actions and the 92nd percentile for expected assisted goals per 90. This shows that he has been successful in Liverpool’s build-up play.
He is however among the worst in the league for per 90 non-penalty expected goals, yet in the 86th percentile for shots per 90. Allowing for the inconsistency that a small sample size can bring, that shows that Chiesa has largely taken low quality shots.
Amid the good and the bad, Chiesa has put up 0.69 goals/assists per 90 minutes for Liverpool across all competitions which is his highest number since his first season at Juventus.
Chiesa should have been rotated in more in this Liverpool team, and Slot’s sole religious use of Salah arguably cost Liverpool in the final week before the international break.
Chiesa’s future
The future of Chiesa in the Liverpool team largely depends upon how much interest there is in his services this summer.
We have seen Liverpool’s ruthlessness in selling on fringe players in Michael Edwards’s first stint at Liverpool.
Therefore Chiesa might find himself out of the door if the right sum lands on Liverpool’s table.
It also depends upon how much Arne Slot values the player, we know that little rotation has not been specific to Chiesa, but seen across the wider team.
We also don’t know if Arne Slot will change that outlook on the team for next season, and if Salah will stay and how that would impact the position.
It is also difficult to know how much Arne Slot falls into the Jurgen Klopp school of thinking when it comes to bedding new signings in, or whether after having Chiesa for a year, Slot doesn’t fancy him.
It is difficult to know for sure, but my money would be on Chiesa staying a Liverpool player this summer.