Arne Slot has revealed Federico Chiesa “wasn’t happy” after the Liverpool boss told him he was being left out of the Reds’ squad for the Champions League group phase.
Chiesa endured a difficult first season at Liverpool, featuring for just 104 Premier League minutes, but staked his claim as a cult hero among the Anfield faithful on the opening day of the current campaign with his late goal against Bournemouth.
Slot claimed he is now seeing a “completely different” player in Chiesa, and yet took the decision to leave him out of his squad to compete in Europe’s showcase competition.
UEFA rules dictate that clubs playing in the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League can name 25 players but that four must be club-trained and another four association-trained.
According to reports earlier this week, the Reds’ failure to sign Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi on transfer deadline day – as a player who developed at another English club, he would have been an association-trained player – left them in need of a home-grown player.
On the possibility of Chiesa leaving the club for either Turkey or Saudi Arabia, who are still able to sign players from the Premier League despite the English window closing, reporter Paul Gorst revealed: ‘Liverpool won’t encourage any interest in Federico Chiesa after Besiktas were linked with the Italian forward.
‘The Turkish Super Lig side have reportedly held exploratory talks with Anfield chiefs over the 27-year-old. But Liverpool are determined to retain [Chiesa] – despite him being left out of the 23-man squad for the Champions League group stages.’
Slot said ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Burnley on Sunday that, predictably, Chiesa “wasn’t happy” with his decisions, but also “gave the answer you want to hear from a player” in response.
“Of course, that is one of the most difficult things you have to do as a manager,” he said. “For a player not to play, it is not always easy to tell them but not to be in the squad is always more difficult.
“I just explained to him why we made this choice. Of course, he wasn’t happy with that.
“I think he understood my arguments – that is not to say he agreed with them. He didn’t tell me, by the way, that he didn’t agree with them! But he gave me the answer you want to hear from a player, that he will be there to help the team in the cups and in the league.
“That’s one thing to say but I think he also showed this because he wasn’t selected but he worked really hard these days to be ready for the upcoming days. That is even more important than what a player tells you.”