Federico Chiesa was Arne Slot's lone summer arrival in 2024 as he arrived during the latter stages of the window from Juventus.
The Euro 2020 standout was seen as a buy-low investment as his injury history had deflated what would normally be a significant transfer fee required for a player of his pedigree.
However, following an underwhelming first season at Anfield, it's clear that Slot does not have him as high up the pecking order as we would have expected.
He scraped out just enough Premier League appearances to qualify for a winner's medal and now his future looks in doubt. However, should Liverpool offload the Italian or does he deserve a second chance?
The Case for Selling
The 27-year old winger was seen as one of hottest commodities in Europe just a few years ago before his injury issues really began piling up.
His current market value of €14 million is nothing in today's rampant market. He should be in the prime of his career commanding a large sum for his services. Instead, he is now a bit-part player that showed flashes but nothing sustained.
His technical and not very physical playing style does not mesh very well within the Slot system and that very much contributed to his limited chances in 2024/25.
The first half of the season was simply ramping up from the injury he suffered and he really only got a half season to leave his mark.
While he scored some goals and created a couple of others, there were not enough times where he took his chance by the scruff of the neck and made true magic happen.
With an influx of new attacking talent like Florian Wirtz and now Hugo Ekitike, he will only find his chances for playing time even more limited.
Liverpool should capitalize on multiple Serie A clubs such as Atalanta and Bologna both having serious interest to at least drum up a minor bidding war and move on.
The Case for Keeping
When looking at Darwin Nunez and Fede Chiesa, there is one huge difference, when it comes to a possible exit, and that is the fee spent by the Reds to bring them in.
As mentioned, Chiesa arrived for less than £15 million last summer while Darwin cost £85m to bring in from Benfica three years ago.
Nunez has at least produced some semi-respectable outputs, Chiesa has not. Granted, the fees for each player probably played a bigger role in the opportunities they had as well.
Had Chiesa been a £45m buy from Juventus, you can be assured Slot would have had him on the pitch nearly double the minutes we saw him for at minimum. As it were, his cheap cost has worked against him and now he is easily expendable whereas the club wants to recoup as much of Nunez's fee as they can.
However, from a sporting perspective, Chiesa does offer something to Liverpool. He still has top-class footwork and his dribbling skills can still terrorize a defender when the Italian is at his best.
His nicely taken goals in the FA Cup against Accrington and the League Cup final versus Newcastle showcased he could still produce if given the proper minutes.
22-28 appearances in all comps with some spot starts would surely see a return of 10-12+ G/A from Chiesa which would be more than helpful for a club competing on four fronts.