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Arne Slot has confirmed he plans to use Federico Chiesa and Liverpool’s wider squad more often in the coming weeks, saying the winger “needs minutes.”
Chiesa’s debut was fleeting, seemingly standing ready to come on for longer than he was allowed on the pitch, replacing Mo Salah for the final four minutes of stoppage time at AC Milan.
It was clearly a big occasion for the Italian winger, who joined from Juventus in the final days of the summer transfer window in a deal worth £12.5 million.
But having spent the majority of the summer training away from Juventus’ first team, it has been repeatedly stressed that Slot would take caution with his new No. 14.
However, speaking to beIN SPORTS after Liverpool’s 3-1 win at the San Siro, the head coach was asked if fans would see more of him soon.
Asked Arne Slot how Federico Chiesa is progressing in his return to full fitness, after making his debut last night.
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“Yeah, I think we will,” Slot replied.
“We will see more of the players that haven’t played a lot today or in other games in the future soon.
“But [Chiesa] gets fitter and fitter. He had a difficult pre-season because he was not always able to train with the first team of Juve, so he had to train a lot on his own.
“Then it takes a bit of time to get your match fitness. It’s getting better and better.
“He needs playing minutes now, but he has competition from some good wingers as well, so let’s see when we’re going to use him.
“But he’s going to be a big asset for us, a very good player us, that’s clear. That’s what we knew before we signed him and it’s also what we see on the training ground now.”
Liverpool are two games into a run of seven games in just 22 days, with Bournemouth, West Ham, Wolves, Bologna and Crystal Palace to come over 15 days before the October international break.
It stands to reason that Slot will employ more rotation during this period, having made two changes to his starting lineup for the trip to AC Milan.
Chiesa is likely to be one of those used more prominently, allowing Salah valuable rest during a strong start to the campaign for the right winger.
Tuesday also saw Joe Gomez given his first minutes of the season while Wataru Endo made another brief outing, with Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez, Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah and perhaps even Tyler Morton to come into contention too.
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