Journalist shares what he's been 'told' about Federico Chiesa after Arne Slot left him out of tonight's squad
12/29/2024 12:31 PM
Arne Slot made just one change from the Liverpool team that beat Leicester on Thursday as they headed South to play West Ham.
The Reds had perhaps been expected to rotate a little just three days on from their latest win.
However, Slot decided that Luis Diaz for Darwin Nunez was the only switch he needed to make to his Liverpool XI.
While that did not raise too many eyebrows, the fact that Federico Chiesa was left out of the travelling Liverpool squad certainly did.
Chiesa was back on the bench for the Reds during the Leicester win on Boxing Day. But the Italian did not travel as part of the 20-man squad in East London.
After news filtered through that Chiesa would play no part, journalist Paul Gorst shared an update on what he’s hearing about the 27-year-old.
Unclear whether Federico Chiesa is injured
With the January transfer window now just a handful of days away from opening, there have been rumours that Chiesa wants to leave Liverpool in the New Year.
Whether true or not, Slot’s decision not to bring his No.14 to West Ham will do nothing to quieten that chatter.
And according to Gorst on X, Chiesa did in fact train as normally as recently as Friday.
It’ll surely become more clear once Slot gets an opportunity to speak after the game, but for now, Gorst says it’s ‘unclear’ whether Chiesa has picked up a new injury.
“No Federico Chiesa in the squad, Jayden Danns named in his place,” the journalist reported.
“Told Chiesa trained as normal on Friday, unclear if there’s a fresh injury setback at this stage.”
Chiesa misses chance for more minutes
Having been named on the bench on Thursday, Sunday had looked like another chance for Chiesa to get some vital minutes.
The Italy international has still played only four times for Liverpool since his summer move from Juventus.
While that has been down to Slot wishing to get Chiesa fully up to speed, he has surely now made the necessary steps in that regard.
As a result, his omission from the squad at West Ham can be down to two reasons, with the potential for a third.
The first is that a new injury has indeed been picked up by Chiesa. The second, that Slot has not been impressed by what he’s seen on the Liverpool training ground and the third is that a transfer is being arranged for January. None of them are good news for the Reds.
