Federico Chiesa is yet to debut for Liverpool but has already made a big impact on the squad, with Alisson agreeing with fans’ early verdict on the Italian.
Since his £12.5 million move to Anfield in the final days of the transfer window, Chiesa’s contribution has been limited to the training pitch.
That could change as early as Tuesday night, with a possible debut against AC Milan in the Champions League – having travelled back to Italy as part of Arne Slot‘s 23-man squad.
Joining Slot for pre-match media duties at the San Siro was Alisson, who was asked about Chiesa and said “everybody’s enthusiastic” about a player who arrived with a “huge smile.”
“I don’t need to give you any introduction to Federico Chiesa, because he’s a wonderful football player, you know him much better than we do!” he told the Italian press.
“In the past years he has given proof of all of his quality.
“He got injured, he had some ups and downs, lately he had some bad periods, but the way he landed at Liverpool was extremely positive to me.
“He arrived in our squad with a huge smile painted on his face. Everybody’s enthusiastic about Federico and he’s extremely happy about having this chance of playing in our squad.
“His quality, he shows it every day. We are lucky to work with him, he’s a top-level player who can help our team.”
Chiesa’s enthusiasm has made him an immediate favourite among supporters, with his Liverpool debut hotly anticipated, and speaking in his press conference Slot confirmed his availability.
“I always like to bring in quality players, and we believe and I think he’s a quality player that combines quality with an enormous work rate,” the head coach said.
“The culture of this club and the culture of this team is working really hard when we don’t have the ball and I think he brings this to his game, in combination with scoring goals, in combination with he can play in several positions up front.
“He is, for the first time, in our team selection and since I said it’s the first time he’s in team selection it would be a big surprise for him and for everyone if he would start.
“I don’t think you should expect that he starts, but he can make a few minutes for the first time – if we need him.
“He’s been with Juve training on his own for a long time, now with us for a few weeks, had some training time, so it’s too early for him to play 90.
“But hopefully he can make his first minutes in the upcoming fixtures.”
