Liverpool Transfer News: Forward encouraged to "fight like hell" for move

Liverpool have made a lot of bold calls this summer, not least with players already at the club.

The expenditure on transfers has been record-shattering and while it has been facilitated in part by the sales agreed, over £200m has still be spent if we look at the net spend figures, which is a lot.

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Arne Slot's defensive and attacking units have been upgraded significantly, for a mixture of reasons, not least because players wanted out alongside the fact that some weaknesses needed resolving.

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But once the squad's refurbishment had taken place, a couple of players needed convincing to stick around because not every single area on the pitch had received quite enough recruitment. Federico Chiesa was one player who might have looked at leaving this summer, but instead he's stuck around.

Italian media criticise Chiesa's decision

After scoring the Reds' third goal against Bournemouth on the opening day of the Premier League season, it was difficult to consider the Italian forwards' choice to stay on Merseyside as a mistake.

He didn't start the contest, but he made a difference to the team. You felt it might be a new beginning for him. But just a couple of weeks later, he's been axed from the Champions League squad to make room for Rio Ngumoha, meaning he's only available for Premier League and domestic cup matches.

As a senior player, he would have hoped to be involved in all competitions, but his season has already been somewhat blunted, despite impressing early on. You feel he's been lied to somewhere.

Getting into the Italian national team squad for the World Cup at the end of the season is his main ambition and if he's not in the Slot's preferred 22 players, then staying at Liverpool was a mistake.

This is certainly the perspective that's coming from the Italian sports media, specifically Antonello Valentini, who spoke to Maracana, a Tutto Mercato Web radio broadcast earlier this week.

He said: "In my opinion, Chiesa handled himself poorly. I was rooting for him to return to Italy, given that he was even interested in Napoli. Last year he played very little at Liverpool, and this year will be the same. In his place, I would have fought like hell to return to Italy.

"Gattuso certainly can't call up someone who doesn't play, especially because it wouldn't be fair to those who do play consistently for their respective clubs. Throughout his career, Chiesa had shown he has technical ability, but not mental ability."

And if we're honest, it's a pretty fair assessment of the situation. Slot clearly doesn't see him in his plans to the extent that the fans would like him to be used and the decision had caused uproar.

Of course, the UEFA squad is only for the 'League Phase' of the Champions League, so he might have an opportunity to redeem himself if the club proceeds to the knockout stages, and the other competitions are certainly valuable platforms for him to make a difference in.

But it's a setback for Chiesa, no doubt. He's facing an uphill battle to achieve what he wants and while Liverpool might be grateful that he didn't 'fight like hell' for a move, it could be his undoing.

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