Surprise U-turn: Liverpool now open to star staying

Liverpool are reportedly open to one star staying. That's despite his departure looking like a virtual certainty.

Transfer season is underway, even if Liverpool are proving quite slow with it. Victor Munoz did arrive last month but since then? We haven't really seen anything happen.

In fact, Liverpool haven't been selling players, either. The Reds are taking it slow and while a lot of that will be waiting for the post-World Cup dominoes to fall, it also just feels like they're not sure what to do.

Yan Diomande was supposed to be their major signing but the Ivorian picked Paris Saint-Germain. With that off the table, what happens now? There's no obvious replacement target and the Reds' squad is a bit of a mess.

We're not sure where they'll even begin. A midfielder to replace Curtis Jones? Is he even leaving? Do they need to replace Ibrahima Konate? What about Andy Robertson? And Hugo Ekitike is still on crutches - do Liverpool need extra support at centre-forward?

All this uncertainty has another effect. Liverpool don't know what their squad will look like, thus they don't know who they'll need to keep.

The Athletic paints that picture with just one line in their Transfer DealSheet roundup: the suggestion that Federico Chiesa could stay at Liverpool. The Reds are open to selling but sanctioning such a sale depends on incomings.

It would make the fourth transfer window where everyone expected Chiesa to leave, only for him to stay. This is a player who has never been given a consistent run in the team, despite joining nearly two years ago.

But it was plain for everyone to see that Arne Slot didn't fancy him as a player. Italy then sent him home for a lack of fitness when he was called up to the national side back in March.

Now, is that a sign that Chiesa is unfit or a sign that Liverpool were failing to keep him fit? We're not entirely sure, but pre-season may give us a clue.

Chiesa looked nailed-on to leave this summer and we considered it a formality. It appears that's not actually the case, though, and he'll get the chance to impress Andoni Iraola.

A third season? It felt impossible but maybe it's truly on.