Embarrassment fuels Liverpool star's EXTRAORDINARY challenge

One Liverpool star has taken on an incredible challenge. And it's at least partly fuelled out of embarrassment.

Federico Chiesa wasn’t supposed to remain at Liverpool beyond the summer. At least, that’s how it felt as a fan looking in.

The Italian was the sole addition to the first-team squad for the Reds’ title-winning campaign - and Arne Slot’s first in charge. However, he barely played.

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Chiesa was given just 101 minutes across the entire Premier League season. He’s already halfway to matching his appearances in that campaign, in fact, and around a third of the way to his minutes.

So why did he stick around? Chiesa certainly had offers to head elsewhere but decided to reject them all and remain at Liverpool.

That’s despite the fact Slot didn’t give him opportunities last season and essentially never giving him a chance on the wing. It’s not as though the wing positions have really opened up, either.

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Federico Chiesa's decision

Chiesa, then, has taken the extraordinary decision to back himself at Liverpool. He feels that even after failing to convince Slot in his debut campaign, he can do so in his second.

And he’s chosen to do this in a World Cup year, believing he can force his way into the Liverpool side and the Italian side for a major tournament. Assuming Italy qualify, of course.

It’s an incredibly bold move and Gazzetta Dello Sport claims it was at least partially out of embarrassment. Or at least, a fear of embarrassment.

Chiesa reportedly feels it would look incredibly bad if he took the offers in Italy or Turkey and then failed to meet expectations. Of course, meeting expectation is often out of a player’s hands, especially if they agree a loan deal.

Many of the reported offers for Chiesa were loan deals, too. It perhaps makes sense, then, that his best chance of rehabilitating his reputation in football would come at an elite club where he feels settled, rather than taking a chance on a club not playing at the absolute elite level.

It promises to be one of the more interesting stories of the season, in truth. Chiesa has the backing of the fans and unquestionably boasts the talent to make it - but can he win Slot over and become a fixture of this team?

He’s backing himself to do that, even if none of us saw it coming.

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