Image Credits: Imago Images
There is a certain irony to the fact that one of Liverpool’s most technically gifted players spent the club’s title-winning season largely watching it from the stands.
Federico Chiesa arrived at Anfield in the summer of 2024 with a reputation built across a decade of Serie A excellence — the dynamic, direct winger who had been central to Juventus’s dominance and to Italy’s triumphant Euro 2020 campaign.
What followed was two seasons defined almost entirely by injury, underuse, and quiet frustration.
Now, with Arne Slot gone and Andoni Iraola taking charge of a squad in visible transition, Chiesa has decided to say publicly what those close to him have known for some time.
His statistics tell part of the story.
In 2025/26, he managed just 726 minutes of Premier League football across the entire campaign — roughly the equivalent of eight full matches.
Three goals.
Occasional glimpses of the player who once terrorised defences in Italy and in the Champions League.
But no rhythm, no consistency, and ultimately no future in the setup as it currently stands.
The full picture emerged in a candid interview, in which the 28-year-old Italian opened up about his situation with characteristic directness.
“I’ve played very little since the start of 2026,” he said to La Gazzeta.
“I have a great relationship with Liverpool.”
‘In January, the club and Slot told me I couldn’t leave — they needed me, partly for numerical reasons.”
“I understood the situation and I was left smiling.”
But the smile, it is clear, has worn thin.
“I want to play. If I can’t find consistency in the Premier League, I have to look for it elsewhere.”
“The first year at Liverpool I barely played, and the last year very little.”
“I’ll go to pre-season in the USA, then I’ll speak with the club and the new manager Iraola, and we’ll see.”
He confirmed that a January return to Juventus, the club he left with a heavy heart in 2024 and still speaks about with unmistakable affection, came close to materialising before ultimately falling through.
“Liverpool had informed me, but then the negotiations with Juve didn’t come to fruition,” he said.
The door to Turin, it seems, remains the one he most wants to walk back through.
“Juventus is always in my heart and I would like to return.”
For Iraola, the situation presents both a problem and an opportunity.
Chiesa is a player of genuine quality when fit and confident, and there are clubs in Serie A, including Como under Fabregas, who have already been discussed as potential destinations.
What is no longer in question is his desire to leave.
He has said it plainly, and in football, clarity of that kind tends to move quickly.
The Liverpool exit appears inevitable.
The destination is the only remaining question.