Reasons For and Against Liverpool adding to their star-studded attack with Federico Chiesa

Think about September 2021, Liverpool had just started the 2021/22 season with fresh hope after one of the worst under Klopp in the 2020/21 season and the attack featured just two of the potential six.

Darwin Nuñez, Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo, were just made-up names to many Liverpool fans, but Liverpool’s new attacking target had the attention of most of Europe in the summer of 2021.

Federico Chiesa had come off of an impressive Euros knockout stages with Italy and a 24-goal contribution 2020/21 season with Juventus.

Many team’s fans dreamed of having the all action Italian winger on their team. The Bianconeri faithful had another star on their hands and were the envy of other major European club fans.

Fast forward three years, which is a long time in football, and three years that have not been kind to Chiesa.

The winger dealt with injury after injury preceding Euro 2020, facing long and short spells away from the Juve starting XI.

Although last season, he recovered to full fitness and managed more minutes than Szoboszlai, Nuñez, Endo, Trent, Konate and Jota to name just a handful.

Liverpool, with Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes at the helm of the transfer committee. have spotted a potential hidden gem in the market. At a small price, Liverpool have identified a player with world-class upside.

Reasons For signing Chiesa

Low price:

The aforementioned price has been reported by both Paul Joyce and Fabrizio Romano to be £10 million plus £2.5 million in add-ons. That is UNBELIEVABLE business.

Xherdan Shaqiri was bought for more in 2018, Emile Heskey was bought for more in 2002.

It is £17 million cheaper than what LFC received for Fabio Carvalho and £15 million cheaper than West Ham paid for a 31-year-old Niclas Fulkrug. It is a bargain.

World-Class Upside:

The price being a reason for signing Chiesa is one thing but when you combine that with the fact that he has the ability to be one of the best wingers in the world, it is shocking how Juventus are willing to so easily part ways with him.

In some ways he has a similar play style to that of Luis Diaz, talented dribbler, passer and general playmaker but maybe lacks that killer edge, Salah and Jota possess.

With some training and extra shooting work alongside Diaz and Darwin, Liverpool could have phenomenal attacking depth to rival any teams attacking options.

And even with an ACL injury he still has that electrifying pace and fearless dribbling ability.

Reasons against signing Chiesa:

Injury Record:

Even with the previous point made that Chiesa had more minutes than many of the Liverpool first-team regulars, there’s still the looming danger of his previous injury record.

Since the start of the 2021/22 season, Chiesa has missed 80 games of football. A big part of that number is the ACL injury he suffered against Roma in January 2022.

Other small niggling injuries haven’t helped over the past 2 years and all add up on his injury record. For some fans this is grim reading and understandably so, it has them doubting the acquisition due to previous injury prone signings.

Bloated Attack:

With the signing of Chiesa, Liverpool will have six out-and-out attackers in the squad.

Now the problem with this is that all six will be of the opinion that they should be in the starting XI, obviously this can't happen, so how can you keep six high quality players happy?

Salah and Diaz have started the season in the best form, Jota has a goal and an assist. Gakpo and Nuñez have only played 20 minutes each but are coming off good summer international tournaments with their nations.

Add in Chiesa, and they may all seem a bit too much depth. Having to cater for Six players.

However, the ones who cannot complain are the fans, one of the best and most entertaining attacking forces in the world.