Federico Chiesa scored inside 11 minutes for the Liverpool U21s as they faced FC Nordsjaelland U21s in the Premier League International Cup on Wednesday.
Youth captain and midfielder Tom Hill played a weighted pass through to Chiesa, who scored from close range after slotting the ball into the bottom left corner of William Lykke's goal. Chiesa's goal was an equalizer after Levy Nene opened the scoring for the Danish club after three minutes.
Chiesa is still working hard on returning to full fitness, and was sent to the U21s despite the senior team also playing on Wednesday. Liverpool traveled to face Newcastle United full of confidence after beating Manchester City 2-0 at Anfield on Sunday.
Head coach Arne Slot dropped Trent Alexander-Arnold from the starting line-up due to fitness concerns, and Dominik Szoboszlai was left on the bench despite a stunning performance against City. Slot has recently shown that he isn't afraid to make changes, and Chiesa sent the Liverpool coach a clear message.
Chiesa arrived from Juventus in the summer, as Liverpool paid just $13 million to sign the 27-year-old. Juventus spent $52.5 million to sign Chiesa from fellow Italian club Fiorentina in 2022, but several injury problems impacted his development, which stemmed from an ACL injury suffered on Jan. 9, 2022.
The deal to sign Chiesa was a low-risk gamble for Liverpool, although he's only played a total of 78 minutes under Slot this season. The Italian is now making strides with his fitness, and is hoping to get an opportunity to impress in the first team.
Slot recently spoke about Liverpool's reliance on Mohamed Salah, due to backup wide options Harvey Elliott and Chiesa not being 100 percent fit. Elliott came off the bench against City to get his first action since Aug. 25, and Chiesa may soon be back in the senior squad.
"Is it a danger that we rely too much on him? A bit, but only because he’s also a human being and – it happened to him last season – he can get an injury as well," Slot said of Salah. "Since Federico Chiesa‘s had a difficult start to the club because of injuries we don’t really have a replacement for Mo.
"The good thing is that Harvey Elliott is getting fitter and fitter again and he played this position many times as well. So I’m not afraid that Mo’s numbers will drop at all, but when it comes to an injury for him, we are in a better position on the left wing than we are on the right.
"But the good thing is Federico is also training with us again, is getting back, and Harvey is getting back. The best thing that can happen to us is that Mo just stays fit and keeps producing these numbers."